Metal Gear Solid: Phantom SEED
by AstralXYZ
Summary: Wormhole technology isn't exactly the most stable technology, which Venom Snake and the other members of Diamond Dogs find out the hard way. Trapped in an alternate universe filled with giant mecha that aren't your average Metal Gear, the dogs of war are forced to adapt, continuing on the will of The Boss even as they get caught up in a foreign war. Co-written with DragonKnightRyu.
1. Prologue: Wormhole Troubles

**Disclaimer: We own neither the Metal Gear Solid nor the Gundam franchises, though I do wish I could write stories like Kojima can. Also, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a Hideo Kojima game!**

 **Co-written with DragonKnightRyu**

* * *

 **Prologue: Wormhole Troubles**

* * *

" _Boss, that jackal you brought back gave one of our guys at R &D a really crazy idea. I have no idea how it happened, how he made it work, or the exact physics behind it, but… Boss, he's managed to create a wormhole. Come back to Mother Base, you really need to see this."_

The brown-haired man with a chunk of metal debris stuck in his right temple, wearing an eyepatch over his right eye had been extremely skeptical when he heard the news - after all, that kind of tech was supposed to come right out of those sci-fi movies. Some of the movie buffs on the base had bought copies of Star Wars, Star Trek and Star whatevers VHS tapes to bring over to Mother Base, but quite honestly he had never been really interested in that kind of stuff. Scientific hodgepodge, especially when it had been integrated into pop culture had never appealed much to him.

Still, he let out a sigh as he turned towards the Soviet soldier he had just finished interrogating. He was back in Afghanistan for a mission to capture a highly-skilled enemy soldier to add to the ranks of Diamond Dogs - the very one he was holding now. "Lights out," he muttered as he put his arm across the man's neck and began choking him out, until he fell limp.

Once he was absolutely sure the guy was out cold, he let him go and backed up against a nearby wall, peeking around the corner to make sure the coast was clear. "Anything else left nearby?"

He heard a momentary fizzle of static from his earpiece.

Wasting no time, he pulled out a small bag from his backpack and untied the cable from around it, attaching the hook on the end to the soldier's belt and pulling a smaller cord. A set of balloons quickly inflated and lifted the soldier up into the air, the sudden movement jerking him slightly awake.

"Huh…?"

The balloon inflated even more and flew right up into the air.

"WAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaa…"

He could hear the distinct sound of a helicopter flying overhead to pick up the flying soldier from the troposphere as he walked away from the base, careful not to tread on the soldiers sleeping on the ground nearby lest he wake them up. With so many of them lying around he really didn't want to do that, or risk waking them up and raising an alert.

Snake let out a sigh as he pulled out his iDroid and dialed in the appropriate frequency. "Pequod, I need a pickup."

" _This is Pequod! Copy that, Boss!"_

He looked far off into the distance, at a nearby hill where he had spotted a red laser coming from, and let out an honest smile. He could honestly say that he felt a lot safer with his partner watching him on the battlefield.

Far away where he had been looking, a woman with chocolate brown hair tied back into a ponytail lowered her sniper rifle and flashed a thumbs up at the man. She was clad in clothes that might as well not be clothes as well - just a set of underwear, fishnet stockings, a utility belt and harness and boots. She stood up and seemingly vanished into thin air, before a trail of dust formed heading off in the direction of the landing zone.

Snake himself lowered his Int-Scope and headed for the jeep he had… 'borrowed' from the outpost. It was time to head back home.

* * *

 **Mother Base, Seychelles Waters**

* * *

"Great job Boss, another potential recruit added to the base and another jeep for the garage," a soldier clad in the standard Diamond Dogs uniform - olive drab combat fatigues and a balaclava greeted Snake as he jumped off the chopper. The badge on his sleeve with a pair of intersecting hexagons indicated that he was a member of the Base Development Team.

"I take it Prancing Swan is having fun breaking him in," Snake said gruffly.

"Oh yes, she is," the soldier nodded back - if he was smiling, the horned man couldn't see it. "He'll fold fast - I've seen that girl at work and I haven't seen any smooth talker as good as her."

Snake simply nodded back as he stared up at the blue-painted box structure that made up the main building on top of the Research and Development platform. The remains of the wrecked Metal Gear Sahelanthropus were resting on top of the building, alongside the AI pod that mimicked The Boss. A firm look graced his face - that was his legacy to carry on as well. He had accepted that fact.

"Where's Ocelot?" Snake turned to the soldier.

"Off base. He had to return to his GRU duties for a while," the soldier reported. "Miller's in the main building looking at the new toy. I'm no rocket scientist but that thing doesn't make sense at all," he shook his head.

"You're not the only one that doesn't make sense to," Snake said gruffly as he began walking, the soldier falling into step behind him and slightly off to the side. "It would save some time though - if what Miller described it like is right, we can use something like that in place of the normal Fulton and it can't get intercepted."

"Or we could use it to simply get around the base faster," the soldier suggested. "I mean, as is we have to drive a long way out to the other platforms. I know Miller wanted Mother Base to be built like this so we have room for expansion and to prevent enemies from easily taking over the entire base, but it's tiring if I want to meet the others at the Command Platform for lunch."

Snake cast a glance at the yellow cargo loading area they were walking by. "Just pack yourself into a box and ship yourself around," he said sagely. "Try it, you might just find your own inner peace, Bullet Crab."

The soldier gave him an odd look. "Boss… I'll… think about it sometime," he said hesitantly.

"Young people these days don't understand the utility of a cardboard box…" Snake shook his head in disappointment as he pushed open a door and stepped into the building proper. Bullet Crab followed him in, closing the door behind them.

They descended several floors until they were just outside a door to the Battle Gear hangar, where he could hear sounds of welding going on. Probably repairing battle damage from the latest mission with it, he assumed. Their destination, however, was the door opposite that one, which had apparently been appropriated for the wormhole testing.

The two men stepped into the room and were instantly greeted with a strange light softly pulsing outward from… a swirling… something in the middle of the room, surrounded by thick glass panels. Several men were standing around it, including a man wearing sunglasses with blonde hair, in a beige long coat with a beret perched on his head. The silhouette was unmistakable.

"Snake, what took you so long?" Kazuhira Miller spoke up, still staring at the otherworldly phenomenon.

"So… this is it?" Snake muttered as he walked up beside his second-in-command. "The wormhole?"

"Yeah, it is," Kaz nodded, finally turning to Snake. "Truth be told I still have no idea how this thing works, but it does. Anything going in one wormhole comes out the other."

"Where's the other wormhole?" Snake asked.

"In the adjacent room," Kaz jerked his left thumb over at another door. As they watched, a cardboard box materialized from the wormhole and joined the stack already in their room. "They're doing final testing to determine if we can replace the Fulton with it. The applications, Boss, think of the applications…"

"I know, I know," Snake held up his hand to stop his close friend from rambling on, knowing his habits. "A Fulton that can't be shot down, that can be retrieved instantaneously with no lag time, that is completely safe for whatever's being transported."

"I still remember when you had to bring in those child soldiers from the Angola-Zaire border," Kaz nodded. "Pequod was complaining about all the fuel he wasted lingering around that area waiting for you to bring them on."

"At least until we developed the child-safe Fulton," Snake nodded. "So… has R&D just been testing it with cardboard boxes?"

Another cardboard box appeared from the wormhole.

"10 diamonds says the next one is a cardboard box," one of the watching soldiers drawled in apparent boredom.

"Not taking a sucker's bet," another replied.

"For two hours, yes," Kaz let out a sheepish groan.

A sheep materialized from the wormhole this time.

"Pay up."

"Hey! You didn't take the bet!"

"Finally," Kaz muttered, before rounding on Snake. "You're Fultoning so much sheep in, we could probably add a wool factory to Mother Base now…"

"Hey, the NGO's paying us a handsome price for each animal we bring in," Snake raised his hands placatingly. "Might as well take advantage of that."

"I'll bet," Kaz sighed.

A wild donkey appeared from the wormhole apparently a little dizzy as it stumbled around and knocked into the sheep.

"The Intel Unit's been trying to domesticate some of the animals for use during their operations in the field," Kaz commented, trying to strike up some conversation during the boring period. "Makes for very convincing camouflage as farmers."

"Tell me when they start testing on vehicles and containers. We could always use more," Snake said as he turned towards the door.

"W-Wait, are you really going to leave me here to wait until they start on those?" Kaz blinked a few times, turning back to look at the wormhole as another animal emerged from it.

"Yeah," Snake nodded, closing the door behind him as he left. "I have missions to do."

Kaz stared at the door for several moments before turning to Bullet Crab. "You, tell me when they start testing on vehicles and containers," he ground out as he turned to leave as well.

"S-Sir!?" Bullet Crab wasn't entirely sure if he should feel honoured or dismayed at the thought of watching the quickly-getting-boring, slow-paced testing going on under the orders of the people at the very top of the command chain.

On his way out, Miller turned to look at a nearby patch of empty space. He let out a sigh and left.

* * *

 **Command Platform**

* * *

"You don't have to camouflage yourself when you're out in the open on Mother Base anymore," Snake turned to face a seemingly empty space on the deck.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, until the figure of his scantily-clad female partner uncloaked right there, letting out a sigh.

"I'm too used to you already, Quiet," Snake smiled. "There's no need to hide when Diamond Dogs has already accepted you."

Quiet looked away apprehensively.

"Force of habit, huh," Snake muttered, understanding the unspoken message and turning out to look at the sea quietly, just enjoying the silence.

The female sniper sat down on the deck of the platform, joining him in his sea-watching. A helicopter flew in from the distance, headed towards the Combat Platform - probably some of the Combat Unit returning after a mission.

"It's thanks to you that I can stand here today, you know," Snake spoke up. "We've gone on so many missions together, and when you left Mother Base on your own to go back to Afghanistan, it tore me apart."

Quiet looked away in shame, recalling that episode back at the Lamar Khate Palace in Afghanistan. When the two of them had fought off a wave of Soviet armoured vehicles intent on exacting revenge for their comrades who had fallen to her bullets. When the two of them had to escape from Soviet pursuit afterwards, having lost all their weapons. When Quiet had woken up just in time to stop a poisonous cobra from attacking Snake and possibly killing him. When the two of them had escaped aboard Pequod and she had vowed to herself to stay beside him, to never leave him again.

"Don't do it again, Quiet. Your home is here now," Snake nodded. "Regardless of who you were with before, or what you did, you're a part of Diamond Dogs now. Those vocal cord parasites aren't going to suddenly mutate for no reason."

Quiet nodded sombrely, well aware of the reason she had chosen to leave Diamond Dogs in the first place.

"One day… when we can finally make The Boss' dream come true, we'll sit down somewhere and have a nice dinner together," Snake continued, watching as the helicopter landed on the Combat Platform's helipad.

Quiet nodded again.

"Woof!"

Snake chuckled as D-Dog ran up beside him and he rested his intact hand on his back, running it through his black-white fur. "Good dog," he murmured.

D-Dog sat down on his haunches and just enjoyed the attention being lavished on him.

Quiet hesitantly lifted up an arm, hovering her hand over the dog's fur. When D-Dog made no move to stop her and Snake moved his hand away to make room, she began petting the dog too.

"He likes you," Snake commented.

Quiet smiled softly, continuing pampering the dog with more confidence this time.

D-Dog let out a low whine and rolled over onto his back, allowing the pair to pet his stomach.

Kaz watched from a distance, eying Quiet suspiciously before letting out a sigh and walking away. The man deserved to have his quiet time after all the shit they had been through at least. Only after a while did he realize that he had made a pun on the female sniper's name unintentionally.

He'd tell them about the results of the wormhole testing later.

* * *

 **Wormhole Testing Area, R &D Platform**

* * *

Bullet Crab frowned. The wormhole seemed to be getting bigger and bigger - he had no idea what the R&D Unit was doing to the thing, but whatever it was, it was starting to unnerve him. The testing chamber had been cleared of all cardboard boxes and animals now, and the single guy that had been volunteered to go through it transported to the sickbay to get treatment for nausea.

Apparently they were going to try vehicles next - one of the jeeps had been driven in through the Battle Gear hangar and was sitting in the other room waiting to be wormholed. Even as he watched, said vehicle began to slowly materialize through the receiving wormhole. They had said that they wouldn't consider it a success until they had managed to bring a tank through it, so he was predicting it would take a while…

And then he heard a tank being driven into the hangar. Maybe it wouldn't take so long after all. Looking around for a while, he decided to head for the wormhole control room to get a better view of the whole process.

When he reached the door, he heard people discussing some scientific mumbo-jumbo in a confused and somewhat… panicked tone? He really couldn't understand a single word being said, but the way they were talking was unnerving him even more.

He hadn't risen up through the ranks of the Soviet Army without learning how to tell panic from elation after all.

"Should we sound the alarm? There's no telling what'll happen if this keeps going on…" a single sentence of English from inside the room immediately set the alarms blaring in his head.

Bullet Crab slammed open the door, causing the panicking scientists inside to freeze at the sudden intrusion.

"Status report. Either you give it to me and I tell the Boss, or I tell the Boss to tell you guys to give it to him," he declared firmly.

They quickly chose the first option. At least that way the middleman would face some of Snake's wrath first.

* * *

 **Command Platform**

* * *

" _Boss, I… hate to interrupt you, but we have an emergency in the wormhole testing area. The scientists somehow lost control over the wormhole and it's growing rapidly. We've tried everything short of shooting the damned thing, even killed the power, but it's still growing!"_

Snake let out a disgruntled sound as the call cut out, standing up from beside Quiet. "What the fuck is R&D doing?" he cursed, inputting another frequency. "Pequod, I need immediate transport to the R&D platform!"

" _Roger that!"_

Quiet stood up, looking at Snake worriedly. Even D-Dog seemed to sense the urgency and quickly stood at full attention, tongue lolling and tail wagging.

"No time to drive, we're flying over there!" Snake shouted over the sound of the chopper's blades spinning as he ran to the helipad. The chopper swung around the main tower and descended - the trio wasted no time climbing onto it.

Even from the air it was clear that something was going wrong at the main platform - the same odd lighting effects surrounding the wormhole now suffused the whole area despite having no clear source. Already some of the Mother Base staff were fleeing the platform in a jeep, driving across the connecting bridges toward the Command Platform.

"What… is that?" the pilot gasped.

D-Dog let out a low whine.

"An out of control wormhole," Snake groaned. "Take us in!"

"S-Sir!" the pilot acknowledged the order despite his own personal fears, bringing the chopper in to touch down on the roof helipad.

The wheels had barely even hit the ground when Snake, Quiet and D-Dog jumped off it. Quiet paused for a moment as her head almost went invisible, before shaking it off, cancelling her camouflage and taking off down the stairs after her partner.

"Report!" Snake shouted, slamming open the door to the wormhole control room barely a minute later.

"It's just like we said, the wormhole is going crazy!" Bullet Crab shouted from nearby a smoking control console. "The two wormholes have combined - we're not even sure where the destination is going to be, or if we're going to bring something else here! At this rate the wormhole is going to swallow Mother Base within the hour!"

"How could this happen?" Kaz appeared from the doorway, slamming his remaining hand against the bulkhead. "What was R&D doing!?"

"W-We were trying to make the wormhole bigger to see if we could transport armoured vehicles through it!" one of the scientists whimpered, drawing Kaz's attention and causing him to limp forward using his crutches to bodily grab the man's collar. "S-S-Something went wrong then!"

Bullet Crab eyed a patch of brown liquid on the control console suspiciously and pointed at it.

"Alright, alright, someone spilled coffee on it!"

"That's so cliched it's not even funny!" Kaz yelled, releasing the man and storming towards the console. "Does anything work?"

"Tried everything, sir! Nothing works!" Bullet Crab reported truthfully.

"Wormhole size increase is accelerating!" one of the techs added in a panic. "It's really going to completely encompass Mother Base at this rate!"

"What's the destination of this wormhole?" Snake growled threateningly.

"U-Unknown! We're not even sure if it's a receiving or sending wormhole!"

"You all are on toilet cleaning duty for the next month!" Mother Base's second-in-command declared.

"If we survive!"

"I don't wanna get dumped on the moon!"

"Wormhole has enveloped Mother Base! Transport sequence is starting!"

"Fuck me," Snake muttered as the glow grew brighter and brighter…

Until it all went white.

* * *

 **Later**

* * *

"Urgh…" Snake groaned as he climbed to his feet, leaning against the wall for support. "Report."

There was no reply.

He staggered towards the doorway, rubbing his head from the pounding headache he was experiencing. It felt like a jackhammer was doing its work inside his head… he resisted the urge to vomit as he stepped out into the stairwell, his vision spinning. Upon clearing the staircase and emerging on the deck of the platform, he ran as fast as he could out to the edge of the deck.

So far everything seemed alright - they were still surrounded by blue water, which was at least a good sign. All of Mother Base was still present and completely intact, although it seemed that one of the evacuating jeeps had flipped over on the connecting strut. He'd have to review everything later on.

"Pequod… you alright?" he called out through his iDroid.

" _S-Sir… I'm fine…"_ the reply came back. " _Performing systems… check…"_

"Once you've got that Blackfoot up and running, I want to be at the Command Platform yesterday," Snake heaved a sigh of relief - he had taken a liking to that pilot after all. "Contact the other pilots and have them do air surveillance around Mother Base. I want to know if anything changed around us."

" _Yes, sir!"_

He heard footsteps behind him and turned just in time to see a disoriented-looking Quiet as she climbed onto the deck, lurching forward to join him. D-Dog wasn't very far behind, though Kaz was nowhere in sight.

"Intra-base comms are still working, luckily," Snake sighed. "But we need to figure out what happened around us before we make our next move."

Quiet simply nodded.

Snake cast another glance at the Command Platform in the distance. It didn't seem like anything odd had appeared near them, so he deduced that they had been sent somewhere else. Where, he had no idea, but he was at least sure of one thing. The next time wormhole experiments took place, no drinks near the damned control console.

" _Arriving at the LZ shortly, Boss!"_ Pequod's familiar voice rang through the iDroid as the sound of helicopter blades spinning filled the air and a strong gust of wind blew across the platform.

"REMEMBER, TOILET CLEANING DUTY FOR THE NEXT MONTH!"

And Kaz was most definitely fully conscious now, as the door leading below decks slammed open once again. The crippled blonde limped out on his crutches, reaching Snake's group just as Pequod came to a stop over the helipad.

"Come on, let's get to the bottom of this," Kaz growled.

* * *

 **Command Platform, Command Center**

* * *

"So all communications with the mainland are down," Kaz frowned, standing on the central area of the command center that provided support to all of Diamond Dogs' field operatives. Around him were a large amount of staff sitting at banks of computers and radios.

"Correct, sir," one of the staff nodded.

"All comms satellites are inaccessible - the systems are saying that they're not even there," another reported.

"90% of personnel accounted for, the remaining 10% are Intel and Combat Unit members who were on missions during the accident."

"37 staff sustained minor injuries during the transition, they have already been hospitalized. No life-threatening injuries were reported. Medical supplies are still sufficient."

"The Quarantine and Animal Conservation Platforms have reported in. No damage reported, but the animals were a little spooked. The bears almost broke their cage down."

That one made Snake shiver a little. That legendary Himalayan Brown Bear hadn't been easy to take down non-lethally.

"So… can we conclude that we're somewhere that's not Earth?" Kaz groaned - this was going to be a hell of a mess to clean up. Assuming it could even be cleaned up.

"The thing is… all the star constellations look exactly the same," one of the techs hesitantly reported. "I think we're still on Earth…"

"Yeah, but those giant floating cylinder things in orbit can't be right," another argued. "I checked with a telescope!"

" _This is Pequod! I can see the Seychelles islands!"_ Pequod reported in, having joined the reconnaissance after dropping off the group at the Command Platform.

"Then it's definitely still Earth…" Kaz frowned.

" _I'm being hailed!"_ Pequod reported. " _Routing transmission back to Mother Base!"_

" _This is the Seychelles Air Force! Unknown aircraft, you are in violation of Seychelles airspace! State your affiliation!"_

"That doesn't sound like anyone we know," Kaz frowned, taking hold of the mike. "This is Kazuhira Miller, of the private force Diamond Dogs. My apologies for breaching your airspace, we were unaware that we had crossed into it."

" _Diamond Dogs? Private force? I've never heard of such an organization!"_

Kaz sucked in a deep breath. It was impossible for the Seychelles to have just forgotten them after all that they had done for them… at least in their version of Earth. He hated to delve into sci-fi excuses and whatnot, but it seemed that there was only one explanation for what had happened to them.

"I assure you, we are not hostile," he said calmly. "But allow me to confirm something. What is the date today?"

" _It's May 2nd, C.E. 70. Why are you asking?"_

"What's C.E.?" the same question was going through the staff's heads at the same time Kaz asked it.

" _Cosmic Era. What kind of a rock have you people been hiding under this past century?"_

Lots of loud gasps filled the room.

"It seems… we have a lot of things to catch up on," Kaz said after a very long pause. "With your permission, I would like to land at Seychelles International Airport for a more in-depth discussion."

There was a pause on the comms. " _Are you people from those floating platforms that suddenly appeared in our waters in that flash of light an hour ago?"_

"Yes," Kaz replied without hesitation.

Another pause, even longer this time.

" _Our President will meet you personally at the airport. He's on route now."_

"I'll be there within the hour," Kaz nodded. "Boss, you should probably come too."

"Right," Snake agreed and turned to Quiet. "You're on escort duty. Cover us in case anything goes wrong. Don't get spotted, nonlethal rounds only."

Quiet nodded, hefting her Guilty Butterfly sniper rifle.

"So… another world, dimension, whatever?" one of the staff asked, turning to look at Kaz.

"Seems like it," Kaz sighed, looking around them. "It's like something right out of a sci-fi novel…"

"How are we going to get back?" another person asked.

"I sure as hell am not authorizing another giant wormhole with no telling where it'll dump us!" Kaz shouted. "In the meantime, stay put. I'm putting Mother Base on alert status until further notice!"

"Sir!" a chorus came from the staff in the command center as they returned to their consoles.

* * *

 **Victoria, Seychelles**

* * *

President Arsene Burnier steepled his hands as he turned his chair around to face the newcomers from Diamond Dogs. Snake and Kaz took the front, with their own escort of two in case things went pear-shaped. Of course, the President himself had his own guards, but they mostly paled in comparison to the well-built and well-trained Diamond Dogs staff.

Their only consolation was that they were all unarmed, which wasn't exactly true considering Snake had his prosthetic Stun Arm equipped. And disarming him of that would have proven to be too difficult anyway. And with all their men trained in CQC, they didn't need the guns to take down men with handguns.

And Snake could also see the glint of a sniper scope far off in the distance anyway. Nope, being attacked wasn't the least of their worries.

"Let me cut straight to the chase and get this straight, you people think you arrived from an… alternate world? Is that right?" the President asked, his brows furrowed in thought.

"Correct, Mr. President," Snake nodded. "We were performing some scientific tests which… got out of hand. The end result is as you see it."

Arsene sighed, massaging his head. "Sounds like something right out of science fiction," he finally said.

"We can't agree more," Kaz inclined his head slightly. "I hate to ask this of you right after meeting you, but can you please explain to us the state of the world now?"

"With Seychelles the way it is, I have nothing better to do," he shrugged, looking out the window. "From what I've seen of your technology, it seems to date back from before what we call the Reconstruction War. That particular war happened after the end of the AD era, when we humans completely wore out the Earth's petroleum resources and began bickering with each other over what was left. Economic blocks were formed by the major powers, and it didn't take long for tensions to flare up."

"So… now there's also the chance that we were thrown into the future…" Kaz groaned - yet another thing to consider now.

"Unlikely," Arsene shook his head. "I had my men run internet checks - even pre-Reconstruction War history was saved. If you people are as famous as you say you are, there should at least be some records. But there are none."

"We came from 1984 AD though, that should have been way before the Reconstruction War…" Kaz mused.

"I have no choice but to believe you, with the circumstances that led to your appearance here," Arsene shrugged. "Be that as it may, you… Diamond Dogs did come in at a very interesting time. The Earth Alliance is currently at war with the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty, or ZAFT as people shorten it to."

"We're a private military force, but we don't have any intentions of prolonging conflict any more than necessary," Snake spoke up this time. "Rest assured, we have no intentions of profiteering off any conflict happening in this world."

"That's the first time I've heard of mercs that don't want to fight too much," Arsene scratched his head.

"Our previous benefactors said as much," Kaz chuckled. "Your counterpart in our original world had an agreement with us before we were brought over here."

"What sort of agreement?" Arsene asked, despite roughly knowing the answer himself.

"We helped them out during a coup d'etat and they gave us the platforms you see sitting in your waters now," Kaz explained. "We helped to protect the Seychelles after that, getting rid of pirates and the like, and they gave us room to keep growing."

"That… is a problem that still exists now," Arsene groaned, reminded of the countless ships intercepted by pirates in their waters. Especially since the Bloody Valentine War started. He quite quickly made up his mind after that. "I'd like to renew that contract that my counterpart from your world had, if you like. I'll assume you know of the situation with our nation, we barely have enough people to field a standing army, and with the current war going on, I'd like to have some protection."

"It's perfectly alright with us," Kaz agreed.

"While Seychelles is taking the position of a neutral entity in this war, I want some insurance. The Earth Alliance has been pressuring other nations to join it as of late, trying to gather the manpower to fight back against ZAFT," Arsene explained. "They've been on a losing streak lately, and I don't want my people to get dragged into this fight. ZAFT won't act against the neutral nations, so you won't have to worry about encountering anything you can't fight back against. Those Coordinators have completely outstripped us Naturals scientifically…"

"You'll have to explain more to me about Coordinators and Naturals later on," Kaz sighed, knowing they had a lot of reading material to bring back. "But what do you mean something we can't fight back against?"

Arsene stared at Kaz. "Mobile Suits. Giant, bipedal humanoid robots armed with upscaled infantry weapons. One platoon of them can tear apart a whole standard army battalion."

Kaz's eyebrows were raised as he locked eyes with Snake. They were both thinking the exact same thing.

"Nuclear-armed?" Snake broke the silence.

Arsene let out a bark of laughter. "Hell no, ZAFT dropped a bunch of things we call Neutron Jammers all over Earth after they got nuked the first time. They prevent anything from going nuclear in a large radius around them. Cost Earth practically all of its energy too, considering we were mainly relying on nuclear fission for energy."

THAT revelation caused the Diamond Dogs members' eyebrows to shoot up to their hairlines.

"That's probably for the best," Kaz said grimly. "Nukes just make everything worse overall. Using a technology that completely neutralizes nuclear reactions would completely invalidate the need for nuclear deterrence too…"

"I take it you haven't had the best experiences with nuclear weapons either," Arsene asked curiously.

"We haven't," Snake shook his head - he was the best person to talk about it considering he had already stopped more nukes than most people got to see in a lifetime. Well, at least his implanted experiences told him that. Between the Shagohod from Russia, the Intercontinental Ballistic Metal Gear, Peace Walker and Metal Gear Sahelanthropus, he had more experience than he needed on the subject.

"I see. Anyway, so long as you don't antagonize ZAFT too much for no reason, they won't have any reason to send Mobile Suits after you," Arsene leaned back in his chair.

"But if we're going to continue offering our services as a PF here, we'll need to figure out a way to counter them somehow at some point," Kaz frowned.

"It's almost impossible without using a weapon of the same scale, Mr. Miller," Arsene shook his head.

"Actually…" Snake paused, remembering that the remains of a _certain_ bipedal weapon were still sitting on Mother Base's R&D platform. "Kaz, we do have one."

"What are you talking abo-" Kaz froze mid-sentence as he realized exactly what Snake was referring to. "Are you crazy? Sahelanthropus is in pieces, and no human adult can fit into that cockpit anyway!"

"Do you know anyone with a technical background who would be interested in working on a giant bipedal weapon?" Snake ignored Kaz and turned to Arsene.

Arsene very nearly fell out of his chair. "You're telling me you have a weapon that can stand up to a Mobile Suit by itself!?" he asked in shock.

"It'll need a few repairs, but it was fully operational before we… broke it," Snake nodded. "Kaz, if those Mobile Suits are as commonplace as we think they are here, a Metal Gear won't stand out as much and force everyone else to come after us like what happened last time."

Kaz stared at Snake incredulously. "The Earth Alliance doesn't have access to Mobile Suit tech, Snake! We don't know what they can do, and they'll likely come for us if we expose Sahelanthropus to them!"

"We don't," Snake chuckled. "We made the mistake last time of letting the whole world know we had a nuke. Now, we find someone to _discreetly_ repair Sahelanthropus. It'll be our trump card - we don't play it unless we absolutely have to."

Kaz tried to find some kind of argument against it, but he couldn't really dig anything up and sagged. "Alright Boss, I'll trust your judgement on this."

Arsene cleared his throat to get their attention and leaned forward in his chair. "Gentlemen, Seychelles doesn't have the technical expertise to do this kind of thing, but I can introduce you to a nation we have diplomatic ties to that does."

"What nation?" Snake asked.

"The ORB Union," Arsene stated plainly.

* * *

 _ **Orb Union, Morgenroete Facility R &D Complex**_

* * *

Deep within Morgenroete's R&D Complex, a deep thumping of drums and bass was heard from one of the many 'workshops' that made up the complex, this one looking to be more of a miniature hangar rather than the regular garage look to most of them.

The reason for this was actually, rather simple, dominating the center of the hanger was a half-assembled mobile suit, with partly assembled parts surrounding it. The left handed wall had a large assortment of firearms, assault rifles, hand guns, SMGs, LMGs even an RPG launcher, although each and every one of them were in various states of disassembly. Finally the right handed wall was covered completely in computer equipment, each monitor was active and either running through assorted simulations or they were pulling out information from assorted sources on anything from Bioengineering to Theoretical Physics and compiling them into assorted folders.

In the chaos that was his workshop, a single man, looking to be in his early twenties with messy, short cut brown hair and emerald green eyes, wearing a standard Morgenroete Engineering uniform, the upper part tied off around the waist to reveal a black muscle shirt that hung somewhat loosely from his shoulders.

His head bobbed with the beat of the rock music that echoes throughout the hanger as he hunched over a rifle looking device, various wires streaming out of it as he fiddled with it.

"Dammit Hisanaga, how many times have I asked you to keep that music down!" a feminine voice cried out over the din of the music.

Ryu Hisanaga looked up with a surprised blink before reaching over to a computer and hitting the pause button. "Huh, you say something, Simmons?" he asked absently.

Erica Simmons, a senior engineer for Morgenroete, sighed in response to his question, shaking her head as she held a hand to her forehead.

Ryu Hisanaga, an undeniably brilliant young man, was also undeniably eccentric and absentminded, hell she lost count of the number of times an explosion came from his 'workshop' because he forgot he left something volatile out in the open.

But, his work more than made up for any damages he might have caused, especially given that he was one of the reasons they had advanced their mobile suit technology so far.

"So, what is your project this time?" she questioned, folding her arms across her chest with a raised eyebrow.

"Beam Weaponry," Ryu replied after a moment, turning back to what he was working on. "Not even at the proof of concept phase so don't ask how long until a prototype is ready."

Erica sighed and shook her head in response, looking over the assorted half-finished projects he had laying around. "Well, let me know when you do," she said resignedly. "But you'll have to leave it for now, Lord Uzumi has asked for you personally."

Ryu blinked and looked back up. "The Lion?" he asked in surprise. "Why?"

Erica shrugged. "No clue," she informed. "Something hush hush so you better hurry."

Ryu nodded. "Let me shower first then I'll head over," he responded as he set his tools down. "Talk to you later, Simmons."

Erica chuckled as she watched the engineer trot off before leaving the workshop herself, making sure the lights were off before closing the doors.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **AstralXYZ:** I do apologize for not working on Accel World: Ruby Chronicles, but let's just say I've been very busy these past few years with my studies and getting absorbed in various other games. It's pretty obvious - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is my most recent one. I promise I'll get back to that other fanfic in time (especially with the new Accel World anime just recently announced), but in the meantime, I really, really wanted to write a resolution to MGSV that didn't end in Quiet's death. I talked it over with a friend of mine, and we thought of making a Gundam SEED crossover using the wormholes in the game as a transfer method.

For those of you not aware, as of late I've been co-writing fanfics together with a few other friends of mine, one of them is here with me for this fic. I'll let him introduce himself.

 **DragonKnightRyu:** Sup, I'm DragonKnightRyu and I am responsible for late night drunken acts of debauchery and larceny. Plus many of you might know my fics for mostly being gender-bent leads.

 **AstralXYZ:** There you have it. Feel free to drop a review or a comment if you're entertained by this fanfic - constructive criticism is very much welcome! If you happen to check out any of Ryu's fanfics, the Yukikaze siblings are my usual OCs, just so you know.


	2. Chapter 1: Calm Before The Storm

**Disclaimer: We own neither the Metal Gear Solid nor the Gundam franchises, though I do wish I could write stories like Kojima can. Also, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a Hideo Kojima game!**

 **Co-written with DragonKnightRyu**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Calm Before The Storm**

* * *

 **Space Colony Heliopolis, C.E. 71**

* * *

A head of brown hair and three heads of silver were huddled together in one of the many resting areas dotting the landscape around the Heliopolis Technical College, typing away at their own personal terminals.

Of the foursome, the three silverette's were all female, while the brunette was the only male sitting under the gazebo they were occupying, his brown hair falling across his, somewhat childishly chubby face - looking as if he was just starting to lose his baby fat - in several bangs as his amethyst colored eyes darted across his computer screen, following the rapid lines of code he was typing in one handed, the other hand holding up a bundle of papers listing the assorted figures that needed to be met. The teen was currently clad in a black long sleeved shirt with a popped up collar, showing the red lining it bore underneath, with several clasps holding it tight to his body, along with a pair of matching pants leading down to some comfortable sneakers.

The three heads of silver hair belonged to a trio of very obvious sisters - two of them were even identical twins with curvy hair falling to their waists, although one had blue eyes and the other had red. The remaining one seemed to be slightly younger, going by her slightly rounder cheeks. The younger one wore her hair long and straight, but with small pigtails trailing from the sides. Her eyes were a pale yellow.

The twins were clad in identical white blouses with dark blue half jackets over them, matched with simple blue pleated skirts. Their legs were covered in white stockings going all the way up to their thighs, and they wore simple white sneakers. The younger one dressed more conservatively in a shirt and figure-hugging jeans.

"Kira! Hanami! Kagami! Fubuki!" A feminine voice called out, snapping the foursome out of their work-induced trances, drawing their attention to a couple as they approached, the speaker, a light brunette with bright, baby blue eyes wearing a light orange sleeveless sundress with a pair of orange detached sleeves.

Her companion, a male with darker brown hair and steel colored eyes, wearing a blue undershirt under a white button up and a pair of jeans, waved at them lightly. "There you three are! Professor Kato has more work for us," he informed in an apologetic tone. "We're heading over there now."

" _More_ work!?" the red-eyed twin groaned, smacking her head on the table. "We're not even done with this yet!"

The male groaned as he set down the papers. "My wrist is getting sore from all this typing," he complained. "What could be so important as to interrupt us when we were already doing work _he_ assigned?"

"What's got him so excited recently anyway?" the younger girl groaned, leaning backwards.

"M-Maybe it has something to do with the new kind of hydraulics we've been hearing about?" the blue-eyed twin asked, stopping work for a moment to reach around and massage her own shoulders. "The ones that are supposed to be three times as effective as the ones we've been using so far?"

"Oh, you mean the medical prosthesis, right, Hanami?" the brunette female asked, perking up in interest. "We've been getting swamped with so many new designs that they want us to test out…"

"It's b-being used in those new prosthetic arms and legs that are being tested," the blue-eyed girl, now identified as Hanami Yukikaze corrected.

"Where's all the new stuff coming from anyway? I swear I've never even heard of half of them in development a year before," her twin scratched her head, diving back into her console. "Even the Earth Alliance and ZAFT don't seem to know what it's about."

"Well, Kagami… this is just a rumor, but…" the steel eyed male started with a whisper. "Apparently Morgenroete's working with some kind of PMC that's been popping up here and there."

"What kind of PMC has tech that the major powers don't even have yet?" the red-eyed girl, Kagami mumbled, opening up a news website. "Ah, Kaohsiung fell."

The male that had been sitting with them, Kira Yamato, blinked and looked over at the screen. "That's close to the homeland," he commented. "Do you think ZAFT might make a push for ORB?"

"I don't think so, ZAFT is a lot happier to just leave ORB as is," the younger of the silverettes, Fubuki, shook her head. "I mean… it's not like they're blatantly hostile to Naturals, right? It's just the EA that's more extreme."

"Ah, who knows," the second male, Tolle Koenig, proclaimed with an exaggerated shrug. "But I _do_ know that Kato will be pissed if we show up late… again…"

"And that was _your_ fault!" his girlfriend, Miriallia Haw, or just Mir to her friends, shouted at him. "I mean seriously, how did you get us lost on a _straight_ road when you don't even drive the car!"

"Ugh, we don't really have much of a choice, huh…" Kagami groaned, packing up her console and slipping it into her bag. "Come on, we'll get all this done sometime in the future."

"I-It feels like all this is t-too advanced for our level though… We're just s-students but this is almost industrial grade programming…" Hanami observed, doing the same.

Kira sighed himself as he closed his laptop and gathered his stuff together, silently agreeing with the twins.

"Tori!"

The sudden synthesized bird call proclaimed the arrival of a green and yellow robotic bird that _actually flew_ as it fluttered onto Kira's shoulder, moving around and inspecting the surrounding much like an actual bird would.

"I still envy your friend that made Tori for you," Kagami sighed, staring at the robotic bird. "Making a robot behave like a bird is one thing, but being able to fly like one too with just the wings alone…"

Kira smiled in response, using a finger to stroke the robotic bird's head. "Yeah, he was really talented in making robots," he said nostalgically. "Tori here stumped even the Engineering professors at Luna Academy."

"Well, it's still stumping the Engineering professors here as well," Fubuki pointed out. "You know one of them actually wanted to dissect Tori?"

Now, Kira was normally a calm, caring and rather easy going individual, however at that statement, his eyes instantly sharpened as an aura of murderous intent seemed to form around him. "Anyone who tries will find themselves without money and up to their eyes in debt as I bring their entire life down around them."

"Figured as much," Kagami nodded, completely unaffected by the ominous aura. Her sisters were the same, while everyone else around them was at least sweating.

"N-No need to be so vindictive, Kira-kun…" Hanami tried to calm down their friend.

Kira blinked as the aura vanished. "It's not vindictive, it's getting even," he declared promptly. "Or… at least that's how my friend described it…"

Hanami let out a soft sigh and tried to change the subject, grabbing on to Kira's sleeve and tugging him along. "C-Come on, we need to get to Professor K-Kato's lab."

Kira didn't resist as he allowed himself to be pulled along by the blue eyed silverette as they headed to the vehicle terminal, remaining silent as he enjoyed the peaceful scenery around them. ' _I hope you're doing alright… Athrun,_ ' he mentally wished as he thought of his childhood friend.

* * *

 **Vehicle Terminal**

* * *

"For my first time out in space, this trip's been quite uneventful so far," a powerfully-built man wearing a leather jacket and pants, with brown hair and an eyepatch muttered, looking out across the rest of the colony's interior, which was visible from his location considering it was a cylindrical colony.

Beside him, his partner, a woman clad in a sleeveless, cropped vest with a very low-cut neck exposing quite a bit of her cleavage and hot pants, with her chocolate brown hair in a ponytail nodded quietly.

"Space… the final frontier…" an old man with white hair in a motorized wheelchair beside them murmured reverently. "Never in my life did I imagine I would be able to set foot on a human colony in space… much less one in a different world."

The man let out a small laugh. "Neither did I, Code Talker."

"But… to think… that the primary weapons of war here are bipedal weapons very similar to our own Metal Gear…" Code Talker mused. "How very… ironic."

Quiet nodded again.

"And here we are to pick up our gear personally," Snake patted the handgun in the shoulder holster he wore underneath the jacket for comfort. It was a pistol of ORB make, customized for his use with tranquilizer ammunition and a built-in silencer.

He had been right to make the call for Diamond Dogs to unofficially ally with ORB - that had gained them access to the nation's advanced weaponry, free of the political baggage that would've come with talking to the EA or ZAFT. Most of it was more advanced than Diamond Dogs tech, but ORB's peace-addled soldiers hadn't had the ability to make full use of it like the war-hardened PMC could. Their older vehicles, while no less effective, had been traded in for scrap metal and replaced with a modern arsenal of electrically-powered vehicles… some may have been stolen, but eh, that was a minor issue.

Not like they could find petroleum anywhere anymore. Luckily Mother Base had been running on mostly green energy from wave generators and solar panels and wasn't affected by the sudden lack of fuel. Thanks to that, the individual units of Diamond Dogs had been able to pick up the pace pretty quickly. They now served with distinction in battlefields around the globe once more. A few of the more adventurous ones had even gone into space already…

Heh, and here he was himself. The zero gravity environment had confused him for a bit, but he hadn't been called Big Boss for nothing and very quickly grew accustomed to it. Quiet's issue with her cutaneous respiration had been solved by simply making her a customized space suit that supplied oxygen all throughout it.

"Code Talker, I'll leave a few men from the Combat Unit to escort you around the colony. I have to go pick up our supplies from Morgenroete," Snake inclined his head towards the old man, raising his bionic hand and making a discreet signal.

Several men wearing plainclothes around them nodded discreetly, and one of them stepped forward.

"Do not mind me, I am just an old man here to sightsee…" Code Talker cracked a small smile. "Go do your business, _naat'aanii_."

Snake grunted out an affirmative and turned to head for the vehicle terminal while the old Navajo went off in a separate direction with his escort. He paused for a moment when he saw a car roll up to it without a driver in the front seat. "Self-driving cars again," he let out a small groan.

Quiet actually chuckled at that and grabbed his hand, leading him towards the building just in time to get in line ahead of several loudly talking kids and behind a trio of loudly talking girls. He analyzed them on instinct - a brown-haired boy and three silver-haired girls in the lead, followed by a brunette and her slightly darker haired boyfriend if the way they were holding hands was any indication. The three girls in front of them were mostly unremarkable except for a redhead in a pink dress.

Quiet seemed to stare at the three silverettes behind them for a while.

"Something on your mind, Quiet?" Snake asked, catching the stare.

His partner shook her head.

"No Kagami," the brown haired boy said, protectively changing the shoulder a small green and yellow robotic bird was standing on away from the silverettes. "You cannot add spy cameras onto Tori! It'll mess up his flying!"

Snake raised an eyebrow at the sight of the clearly robotic bird. There was so much intel-gathering potential in something like that…

"Tori!" the robotic bird chirped up, adding its own indignity to the argument.

"Eh?" the redhead leaned around Snake to look at the group that had just arrived. "Miriallia, Fubuki, Kagami, Hanami!"

"Oh, hey Flay!" Mir responded with a wave. "What's going on?"

"Flay got a _love letter,_ " one of the other girls announced excitedly. "Who is it from, Flay? Did Sai send it?"

Snake rolled his eyes mentally - he wasn't quite properly equipped to engage with the youth of this era. Quiet, understanding his situation, just gestured over towards at an approaching car. Just as well, though it seemed the two groups were too engrossed in talking to each other to take it.

He cleared his throat, "Are you girls taking this car?" he asked.

"Oh, uh, sure, go ahead," the distracted redhead stepped aside for him to pass, after a quick glance at him.

"Thanks," he nodded, moving forward and climbing into the front seat. Quiet was riding shotgun beside him as they inputted their destination - Morgenroete, and pulled away from the terminal.

"That guy was kind of scary looking," Fubuki muttered, staring after the leaving car.

"I think he was a soldier," Kira muttered in agreement. "At least, he _looked_ like one."

Behind them, a woman with short black hair, wearing sunglasses and a long coat who had just arrived at the terminal together with two nondescript male escorts was standing there with her jaw hanging open. "That man…" she gasped. "Was that…?"

"A-A-Anyway, there's nothing like that going on!" Flay insisted, resuming their earlier conversation.

Kira sighed as he sent a brief wistful look towards his crush before shaking his head. "We really should get going before we're late," he commented to the others.

"Y-Yeah!" Hanami nodded.

Fubuki had caught the brief disappointment from Kira, and just patted his back lightly.

"Flay, Flay, I know the look of a girl in love, and you definitely look the part!" Kagami giggled, thumping Flay on her back.

"Really! There's nothing going on between me and Sai!" the redhead groaned, turning to look for some escape from her situation. She was saved by the appearance of another car. "What's the big deal anyway? Let's just go!" she spun around and headed for it.

"Eh? Hey, wait up!"

"Wait for us!"

Kira's group just watched the group of girls leave in the car before everyone turned to look at Kira. His crush was quite a bit of an open secret after all.

"You know, you have plenty of good-looking girls around you and you're still pining for her?" Kagami teased, crossing her arms under her significantly-larger-than-average bust and squeezing it just a little bit to illustrate what she meant by good-looking.

Kira flushed slightly but shook his head. "I don't know really, and stop that, it's embarrassing," he replied, trying hard not to look down.

"Ka-Kagami-chan, don't be so shameless in public!" Hanami chided her twin.

"Eh, there's no harm in showing them off a little, right?" the red-eyed twin grinned as she ducked behind Hanami and wrapped her hands around her similarly well-endowed chest, giving it a few squeezes.

"H-Hyaa! Stop that!" Hanami managed to spin out of Kagami's grasp, though without her dignity intact.

Both Kira and Tolle, with the ease of long practice, studiously ignored the all too common scene as they tried to keep their faces from turning red. "Let's… get a car," Tolle suggested promptly.

"Yeah," Fubuki agreed, deciding she really didn't want to be on the other end of her older sister's perverted advances - she wasn't quite as well-developed as her sisters… but she was only a size or so smaller. Hadn't stopped Kagami from groping her too though. "It'll be a bit of a squeeze though, we've got 6 people here and the cars only fit 5."

"Mir can sit on my lap," Tolle suggested quickly with a grin.

"I can sit on Kira's lap too," Kagami joked.

"No!" Kira responded quickly. "No way that's happening!"

"Pooh," Kagami stuck out her tongue at Kira, before climbing into the front seat beside Kira while the others piled into the back seats.

Kira sighed in relief at the dodged bullet as he inputted their destination, it wasn't that he didn't think she was attractive, quite the opposite really, he knew that without a doubt she would feel Kira junior and tease him relentlessly about it.

In the back seat, Fubuki caught the stray thought and ducked her head so the others wouldn't see her blush.

"Fubuki, something wrong?" Mir asked, making the teen freeze at being caught. "Your face is all flushed."

"N-No, it's nothing!" Fubuki quickly blurted out.

Mir tilted her head in confusion. "Well… if you're sure," she relented slowly.

* * *

 **Professor Kato's Classroom**

* * *

"You really are foolish, young lady," a brown haired, green eyed man, clad in a Morgenroete engineer uniform sternly commented to a person clad in an obscuring overcoat with a large hat keeping her hair and shadowing her face, Kira and his friends looking over them . "You should have at least brought Ledonir with you."

"I ditched him because he didn't let me come here in the first place!" the person shouted back in a distinctly feminine voice. "I needed to confirm this for myself!"

"Then you are more foolish than you look." the man proclaimed, his eyes narrowing.

"What do you think is going on over there?" Kagami whispered to Kira.

Kira shrugged in response. "Who knows?" he replied. "But… I think I've seen that guy around the campus before..."

"Hey guys," a blonde haired boy wearing orange tinted glasses greeted as they approached. "I see you've noticed our guests, apparently they're waiting for Professor Kato."

"Sai-kun…" Hanami blinked as she recalled the conversation from earlier about Sai's love letter. "Ummm, a-any idea who they are?"

"Not sure about the one in the coat," Sai admitted. "But Chief Engineer Ryu Hisanaga there is here to speak with Professor Kato about our hydraulics work."

"C-C-Chief Engineer!?" Hanami gasped, looking over at the man.

"Yeah," a plain looking boy with dark, blush hair with dark brown eyes. "He's apparently working with the military on some new project."

Hanami cocked her head to one side. "If he's working with the m-military, w-why would he come see Kato? I-I mean, he doesn't work for them… does he..." she trailed off as her eyes widened.

"Hanami?" Kira questioned as his friend paled. "What's wrong?"

The blue-eyed silverette dug her console out from her bag and fired it up. She quickly brought up the code they had been working on for their professor and pointed at it.

Kira looked over it carefully. "Yeah, it's the power loader operating system," he said in confusion.

"Is… Is it really designed for a p-power loader?" Hanami asked.

Kira blinked as he reexamined the coding lines. "The specs are off…" he realized. "This… is a Mobile Suit's OS, but… not a good one anyways."

"Wait…" the Chief Engineer spoke up, catching the teens' attention. "You mean Kato has been having you work on that project without even telling you what it was?"

"Uh… I think so, y-yeah…" Hanami looked away from the man's eyes shyly.

"Kato, you fucking idiot," the man groaned as he palmed his forehead in frustration. "Look, I'm going to need you all to sign some confidentiality forms, then I can actually tell you what you're working on… like Kato should have done from the beginning, but the fucking cheapskate probably didn't want to actually pay you for your work like he _should_ have done."

"It's not anything illegal, is it?" Kagami frowned.

The engineer shook his head. "No, perfectly over the table," he informed, sending a look over towards the unnamed girl. "The ORB government has full knowledge of the work being done, however, it's a highly classified project, thus the need for the confidentiality forms."

"Er… if we said no, would you have to silence us or anything like that?" Fubuki asked a little fearfully.

The engineer gave her a confused look. "Why would we?" he asked. "All you know is that it involves a Mobile Suit OS, which is incomplete, and you only know that because of the incompetence of my subordinate," he shrugged. "Nah, if you refuse you'll just be transferred to another class."

"Ummm… o-okay then," Hanami nodded, sharing a glance with her twin sister. "But a-are you sure we're up to the t-task?"

Ryu raised an eyebrow as he looked over their work on the OS. "You made this on what I am guessing to be very limited information, and as it stands it _could_ be used on a Worker-class GiNN mobile suit with minor tweaks," he declared. "Hell, I'm tempted to flat out hire you all if this is the level of work you youall can put out right now."

Kira and the Yukikaze sisters swelled with pride at the praise.

Ryu quickly pulled out his phone and dialed a number as he let out a sigh. "Still… Erica is going to have Kato's head for this clusterfuck," he muttered to himself. "It's Hisanaga, I need the G-W113254-C forms at Kato's lab ASAP, date them a week after the project started."

"K-Kira-kun, are you okay with this?" Hanami asked.

Kira looked over to the shy silverette before nodding. "I'm actually kinda curious as to what Kato had us working on now," he admitted, sheepishly scratching at his cheek. "And we _did_ want to work for Morgenroete."

"Uwaah, now I'm jealous," the plain boy from earlier muttered. "Getting hired before we even graduate…"

"I was actually including all of you," Ryu informed hanging up his phone. "Mr… sorry I realized I never got any of your names."

"Ah, Kira Yamato," Kira replied embarrassedly.

"I'm Kagami Yukikaze!" Kagami identified herself.

"H-Hanami Yukikaze…" Hanami whispered barely audibly.

"Fubuki Yukikaze,' their younger sister added on.

"Tolle Koeing," Miriallia's boyfriend said with a wide grin.

"Miriallia Haw, sir," Mir replied respectfully.

"Sai Argyle, a pleasure," Sai bowed his head in greeting.

"Kuzzey Buskirk," the timid boy informed nervously.

Ryu's eyes flicked over each of their faces, as if memorizing every detail of them. "Chief Engineer Ryu Hisanaga of Morgenroete's Special Weapons and Research Division," he informed, before moving over to the power loader that was sitting in the middle of their classroom. "You guys built this from scratch, correct?"

"Y-Yeah, we did," Hanami blushed.

"You did good work on it, I was actually able to improve upon one of my projects by using the data Kato shared with me on this project of yours," Ryu praised the group. "Yeah, you all will definitely go far in Morgenroete if that's your career choice."

Hanami's blush got quite a bit brighter.

"Okaa-san and otou-san will be proud of us!" Kagami grinned, patting her sisters on their backs.

"That one year of studying like mad to jump one year ahead was worth it…" Fubuki heaved a sigh of relief.

"Just, keep quiet about us backdating the forms," Ryu requested. "Only reason I'm doing so is to avoid a whole slew of legal troubles, now if you _do_ decide to join the projects you will be getting multiple cheques that had been, unfortunately backlogged due to clerical errors within Morgenroete's system, and since this is a high level project closely linked with the ORB Military, you will be given the civilian rank of YD-00, meaning Civilian Technical Expert, and given subsequent pay."

Dollar signs appeared in Kagami's eyes and the others could almost swear she started sparkling.

"Umm… why though?" Sai asked in confusion.

"Well, it's only fair as Kato's been passing your work - outside of this power frame - as his own," Ryu revealed. "So, since you've been doing this work, it's only fair you get paid for it."

Fubuki waved her hand in front of Kagami's eyes. No response.

"Can you believe this, Mir?" Tolle asked in excitement. "Do you know how much YD-00's get paid? They rake in six figures a year easily!"

"That is a lot of money," Mir agreed, looking a little shell shocked.

"S-S-S-So much m-m-m-m-m-money…" Hanami was trying to process what she could do with that kind of money. She actually didn't really use that much anyway, she wasn't a really big spender, but it was still mind-boggling to her.

Kagami's sparkling aura grew even bigger.

Ryu smirked in response. "Just imagine what you could make if you stick around in Morgenroete," he said temptingly. "Keep up work like this, and maybe you can beat my record for Chief Engineer at 19."

"If you're trying to get us hired, you're doing a very good job of it, Hisanaga-san~" Kagami purred.

Ryu rolled his eyes a bit. "Anyways, I do apologize for Kato's actions, chances are he'll be having to face the board of directors for this one, and that's if he's lucky," he said sincerely.

"So… if we do join… what will we be doing?" Kuzzey asked, a curious look on his face.

Ryu shrugged. "Same thing as you have been pretty much," he informed. "With a bit more operational freedom, so long as you're meeting the quota, that is, and I won't lie, you may have to develop weaponry, but it'll be for Orb Military's usage."

"What if we wanted to do work in another division?" Sai spoke up.

"Then when the current project is complete, you can submit a transfer request and I will give a recommendation that they accept it," Ryu explained. "Unfortunately, company doesn't allow switching divisions between high priority projects like this one."

"What about test piloting?" Tolle asked, his grin widening as he leaned forward. "Will we get to test the things we develop?"

"So long as you get the proper rating, yes," Ryu confirmed. "Although to get a tester, you need to go through military channels for that."

"Piloting nut," Kagami rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I know what I love!" Tolle declared happily. "And just think of all the cool toys we'd get to play with!"

Mir sighed affectionately as she shook her head, placing a hand to her forehead in exasperation. "My boyfriend," she declared. "Is nuts."

"And here the three of us sisters are, still single…" Kagami sighed. "So when do we start, boss?"

Ryu blinked before chuckling, shaking his head. ' _Almost like those dogs,_ ' he thought affectionately. "As soon as the papers are signed," he told her.

"Are you serious? You can't involve civilians in military affairs!" the unknown woman shouted.

"Cagalli, shut up!" Ryu snapped, surprising everyone. "I will not take into consideration the opinions of a self-absorbed, entitled little brat who has never seen war before when it comes to the matters of defending _my_ home. You have some growing up to do before I would _ever_ consider _any_ suggestion you give."

"C-Cagalli!?" was the simultaneous reaction of almost everyone else in the room, forcing the now-identified ORB princess to duck her head and pull her cap down.

"Cagalli Yula Athha!?" Mir gasped.

Ryu sighed but nodded. "Came here without her bodyguard," he informed as he folded his arms across his chest. "All because she believes weapons are automatically evil and we shouldn't have any."

"B-But, wouldn't not having weapons just give the EA or ZAFT free rein to r-run us over?" Hanami tentatively raised her hand.

"And points to the blue eyed cutie," Ryu drawled, not breaking eye contact with Cagalli. "So, for bonus points, can you tell me who else Morgenroete does contracts with?"

"Umm… a f-famous PMC, I'm not sure what the name was…" Hanami blushed, trying not to look at Ryu and look at him at the same time.

"Diamond Dogs," Ryu drawled out. "Up and coming rising powers, made famous by their commanding officer, only known by the code name, Venom Snake or even Big Boss, who had taken out a GiNN… on foot."

Dead silence fell across the room for what felt like hours.

"Um… boss, are you kidding us?" Sai blinked a few times, adopting Kagami's nickname for their new boss. "GiNNs are impossible to take down on foot…"

"That's what ZAFT would have you believe, at least when they're in the hands of their own soldiers," Ryu informed. "This GiNN was being used by a rival PMC who had been on the wrong side of a contract."

"H-How!?" Hanami gasped.

"Through a mixture of stealth, positioning inside of an urban environment, and explosive ordinance to the head," came the answer. "I'll give Snake this, he earns that code name, just like a snake he can slither anywhere he wants without being seen."

"B-But…" words failed Tolle. "On FOOT!?"

"Yuhuh," Ryu confirmed. "Real kicker? Guy's a Natural, never been genetically modified."

"W-Wait, where did he come from?" Kuzzey asked, bringing up his console and starting to dig on the Internet. "If he's that good, shouldn't we have heard of him several years earlier?"

Ryu chuckled. "Because, several years ago he _didn't_ want to be found out about," he informed. "Apparently he wanted to wait until his base was complete before going public, pretty big too, wasn't easy to hide."

"Just like that!?" the students' eyes bugged out comically as Tolle gasped. "Nobody heard of him because he didn't want to be found? He's that good!?"

Ryu nodded. "He is that good," he confirmed. "But, anyways, back on topic, Morgenroete, and by extension ORB, enjoys quite the profitable two way relationship with them, can anybody hazard a guess why?"

"You mean they've been using Morgenroete equipment!?" Kagami stared at Ryu incredulously. "And in exchange, they do a lot of work for us?"

"ORB isn't as neutral as you think it is," Cagalli huffed. "Diamond Dogs gave father the way he needed to protect the smaller communities around the world from mainly the EA which is trying to drag them into the conflict. Thanks to them, we've also discovered the existence of a shadow organization pulling the strings behind the EA side of war, though we don't have a name yet."

"Which is good," Ryu confirmed. "But, Morgenroete also does work for foreign militaries, now, this is for the victory, why would we do that?"

"To draw attention away from ORB so we don't get attacked when the EA thinks of flexing it's muscle…" Fubuki realized.

"Bingo," Ryu declared pointing to Fubuki. "As such, this will allow us to maintain our neutrality for as long as possible," he turned to Cagalli. "The world has never been made up of black or white, it has always consisted of shades of grey, sometimes purple if karma or Murphy are feeling particularly vindictive."

"B-Boss, do you know Venom Snake personally or something?" Tolle raised his hand to ask. "You seem to know a lot about him."

"Well, I did work on their Mother Base for about half a year when we first started our partnership," he informed. "Even deployed on a few ops when they needed technical expertise, wearing a Balaclava of course, most memorable moment had to be when one of the animals in their nature preserve managed to break out of its cage, a brown bear, tough as nails, and took over _twenty_ tranqs that can knock a man out in _seconds_ before it went down... " he shook his head clear of the memory. "But anyways, let's head over to where you will be working for the near future, you will be coming with us, Cagalli, and if you think of trying to slip away, I will contact your father."

Cagalli swallowed tightly in response, nodding her understanding as the others gathered up their things.

* * *

 **Morgenroete Factory District, Hangar Two**

* * *

Snake pulled out an e-cigarette from his pocket and took out his iDroid, projecting a virtual flame to light it up with. as he looked up at the large hangar that most definitely wasn't designed for something the size of your average fighter aircraft. Oh, he knew what the place was built to house - he just still had a little trouble wrapping his head around the idea that giant robotic weapons were so easily encountered now.

And that Diamond Dogs would be getting more than just Sahelanthropus… he had never thought he'd see the day. Granted, it would never have been possible without the ORB engineers managing to reverse engineer the Metal Gear's operating system and somehow recovering the plans and combat data from its black box. None of that was going into the stuff they were building themselves, he had made sure of that through the Intel Team. No, that tech was going to be exclusive to Diamond Dogs.

He really didn't like the idea of either ZAFT or the EA getting access to their metallic archaea and parasite technology. No, they'd just use it to kill each other.

"Hey! Is Ryu Hisanaga around here?" he called out.

One of the techs hurried over with an annoyed look. "We're busy here! And Chief Engineer Hisanaga is at the technical college picking up some things."

"Is that so?" Snake sighed. Apparently they'd need to wait around for a while before they could grab their stuff.

"Who're you anyway?" the tech eyed Snake warily, running his eyes over the scars that decorated his face as well as his eyepatch. "I haven't seen you around before…"

"Just call me… Ahab," Snake grunted, taking a puff of his e-cigar. "I'm here to see your Chief Engineer about some parts my company ordered."

"You'll have to wait - if you ordered stuff from him it's likely beyond my authorization to touch," the tech sighed, wondering what was up with the mysterious soldier-looking man.

"I figured as much," Snake nodded, leaning against a container before taking another puff of virtual smoke. "I'm not in a hurry, I'll wait until he gets back," he added.

Quiet joined him, and having nothing else to do, she just looked around at the colony's interior.

"R-Right," the tech nodded slowly, studying the e-cigar he was puffing away at. He decided he needed to get one of those somewhere.

* * *

 **Vesalius, Somewhere Near Heliopolis**

* * *

A masked man with long blonde hair frowned as he looked over the latest data for the colony. Those damned dogs of war were throwing off his plans - even the ZAFT council was wary of what their leader had managed to do. He hadn't considered them a threat before, but clearly now he had to reconsider that initial opinion.

"Commander Le Creuset, we should wait for official orders from the Council before we make our move," the ship captain suggested, turning to face him.

"I hate to say this when my sixth sense is telling me otherwise, Ades, but with that man seen on Heliopolis we'll have to wait," Rau seethed. "If he's around, there's a good chance his dogs are with him too, and those people are some of the best soldiers I've seen. We'd be putting our commandos' lives in even more risk going in blind."

"Hard to believe he's here in space…" Captain Ades murmured, bringing up a mug shot of a man's face on the main monitor. He had brown hair tied in a short ponytail, but his most distinctive features were the eyepatch covering his right eye and the facial scars decorating his face. "The only man to have ever taken down a mobile suit on foot…"

"Yes, and he's driven the High Council into a panic because of that," Rau nodded. "Doesn't even matter if it was a PMC in control of that GiNN, he's shattered the idea that mobile suits are invincible to foot soldiers. No one else has succeeded, but there are more and more people who are trying to do that."

"We can attack and seize the prototype battleship as it leaves the colony, Commander," Ades suggested. "That man can't do anything in open space."

"No, it'll be too late then," Rau ground out. "I need more information to adjust our plans for the attack. Get me a direct route to Intelligence, I need to have some words with them."

"S-Sir!" Ades saluted.

* * *

 **Morgenroete Factory District**

* * *

Snake was still leaning against the wall, chugging away at his e-cigar about half an hour after he had first arrived, remaining oddly still without a care in the world. That was until he vaguely sensed different footsteps approaching, at which point he took the cigar out of his mouth, puffing out another cloud before turning to face the newcomers.

"Nice place you have here, Rising Dragon," he inclined his head towards one of his former subordinates-on-loan.

Ryu shrugged in response. "It works for now," he said noncommittally. "I prefer my _actual_ workspace back in the Homeland, it's where my baby is at."

"You've finished it already?" Snake raised an eyebrow.

"I was just about, adding on the final touches - thanks for lending me the data by the way - when I was selected to lead _this_ project," Ryu answered with a sorrowful sigh. "I would have brought it with me, but… unfortunately Leontophone must wait for me to return."

"Well, does it match up to what you were working on back on Mother Base?" Snake chuckled, patting Ryu's back, mindful of the bunch of kids he seemed to be leading. He kept his voice low enough so they wouldn't hear.

Quiet smiled at the kids, and got a somewhat wary smile back in return. She let out a somewhat disappointed sigh.

"Fairly well actually, the archaea sample you let me study has helped me immensely in developing new armor types," Ryu informed with a grin. "Plus the high mobility feet were something that I was able to incorporate, Leontophone is smaller than most, but I think it can take on the new units being produced."

"Don't get cocky, Dragon," Snake grinned right back. "The big guy's still got plenty of armaments other than that stuff to kick your ass with. Especially after your modifications gave it enough room in the cockpit to fit an adult pilot."

"Wait, you're that guy from the car terminal…" Kagami blinked a few times.

Ryu looked over his shoulder at the group and grinned. "This, is the Big Boss of Diamond Dogs," he said by way of introduction. "Snake, meet my new subordinates, Kato had them working on the project, without explaining anything to them, paying them, or even getting them to sign waivers, and yet they still managed to produce a damn good OS."

"This Kato was your subordinate?" Snake said gruffly. "Sounds like someone I'd throw into the brig on sight. We don't have Ocelot with us anymore, but we've still got plenty of interrogators eager to work their magic."

The students were completely silent with their metaphorical jaws on the ground as they stared at the man with the eyepatch.

Ryu waved him off. "He's not a traitor, just an idiot with too much ambition," he said. "He will be wishing I did throw him into the brig though, I informed the Board of Directors, who are _not_ happy."

"Sounds about right," Snake nodded, turning to get a good look at the kids. "I can't exactly agree with kids helping to develop weapons though," he frowned. "But then again, I don't know much about this Coordinator stuff anyway. I guess you people mature faster in a sense."

Ryu waved. "They're not going to be developing weapons themselves," he assured. "They're going to be focused on Exoskeleton and Mobile Suit construction, another department will handle the weapons."

"Forgive me, I'm still having trouble thinking of Metal Gears and Mobile Suits as entirely separate concepts," Snake sighed. "The idea of a giant bipedal we-... robot doing things other than fighting is alien to me."

"D-D-Did you really take out a GiNN on foot, Big Boss?" Tolle couldn't help asking.

"Hmm? Oh, that one," Snake recalled the fight with said giant robot. "You could say that I'm… experienced in dismantling giant robots."

Ryu stifled a chuckle before looking over to Quiet who seemed to have been unnoticed. "How about you, Quiet, are the little hanger-ons giving you any grief?" he asked.

Quiet shook her head.

"And still don't talk much," he sighed with a chuckle. "Ah well, how are you liking the modifications I made to the Butterfly, I hope the scope hasn't broken at all."

The mute sniper flashed Ryu a thumbs up.

"Good, I'd hate for my work to go to waste," he said with a sigh, turning back to Snake. "So, here for the package then?"

"Yeah. The R&D guys were getting so impatient they started ragging on Kaz to send someone to get the stuff," Snake rolled his eyes. "They've been _really_ interested in starting work on the giant robots, like kids in a toy store."

Ryu snorted and gestured for them to follow. "They're ready to go, I've also included assembly instructions - not that I expect they'll use them," he informed as they came up to a heavily secured door with a palm and retinal scanner, quickly scanning the both of them, Ryu inputted his code, opening the door. "You kids can come in as well, might as well see what you'll be working on."

"Is it alright if I ask you what you're here to pick up, Big Boss?" Tolle asked.

"No, it's classified stuff," Snake grunted.

"I figured as much…" a somewhat disappointed Tolle slumped.

"Unless Ryu decides you can be trusted with the information, at least," Snake cast a short glance at the other adult.

Ryu shrugged. "They're smart kids," he said in response. "Plus, they _want_ a job here, they won't jeopardize that."

"Alright," Snake conceded. "Diamond Dogs is starting up a mobile suit unit, so I'm here to pick up some parts for the mobile suit we developed with Morgenroete's help. Easier to ship it undetected in parts - an entire, fully assembled mobile suit is just going to draw more attention than it's worth."

"By the way, I think your going to like the arm I made for your unit, Snake," Ryu said with a grin as he led the way into the workshop. "I know how much you like your rocket punch."

"Oh really? You put that on a mobile suit?" Snake raised an eyebrow, raising his obviously mechanical left arm to show the students.

"Oh yes, yes I did," Ryu confirmed with a wide grin. "Also got that Quick Deploy Cargo Container you wanted."

"That'll definitely help," Snake grinned.

"Errr… Quick Deploy C-Cargo Container?" Hanami wasn't sure if she had misheard it.

"If you want to get technical, Quick Deployment Mobile Suit Concealment System," Snake said proudly.

"It's a box," Ryu deadpanned. "And it doesn't quite hold up to scanners, or those competent at their job."

"Then make it hold up to scanners," Snake said bluntly. "Line it with aluminium foil or something like that. Young people these days don't know how to appreciate the utility of a good box…"

"Yeah, I'd _like_ to see aluminum stand up to the penetration scanners the EA and ZAFT use," Ryu muttered.

"Nobody's going to use a scanner on a cargo container for no reason," Snake pointed out smugly.

"What would you use something like that for?" Kagami blinked, a little bewildered at the way the conversation was going.

"Snake here believes that cardboard boxes are the best infiltration tool in existence," Ryu said. "And I rebuttal with that it'll only work against the incompetent and lazy soldiers."

"The bases I've infiltrated would say otherwise," Snake grunted. "I've sneaked through both Russian and American bases undetected using cardboard boxes."

Ryu rolled his eyes in response. "Whatever," he said, giving up on the argument. "Anyways, one more thing for you, a Prototype Powered Exoskeleton Armor," he led them deeper into the base. "Usable in all combat environments, land and space, highly customizable and versatile, and can fuck anyone's shit up."

"Like a next-generation Walker Gear then," Snake remarked. "The old ones weren't quite space-capable."

Ryu snorted. "Only a hundred times better," he assured, as they came up to a platform where what looked to be a suit of massive armor with several thrusters loaded onto it. "IPA-Y01 'Oni'," he declared. "Only comes with a beam saber for fixed armament, but there are several hardpoints for equipping other weapons, from railguns, to rockets, even beam rifles, if it can fit, it can carry it, uses those kinetically and solar charged energy cells you guys exchanged with us to power a miniaturized ultracompact energy battery, in active combat, about an hours worth of energy, give or take."

"That's not a lot," Snake frowned. "But you can't argue with that firepower. How many of them you got?"

"Three at the moment, awaiting final approval for production," Ryu answered. "Two of them are yours in payment for the last job."

"Would make taking down a mobile suit a lot easier," Snake mused, staring at the unit and already running through simulations in his head for using an Oni against a mobile suit.

"That's actually quite cool," Kagami set aside her skepticism about Snake's cardboard box usage and stared at the armour.

"Thank you, quite proud of it myself," Ryu said proudly. "And one of your first projects will be helping me improve it."

"I think I'd like that very much," the red-eyed silverette nodded gleefully.

"So this will be our workplace?" Kira asked curiously, looking around the warehouse as he moved closer to a bank of computers.

"Pretty much, I'll have you keyed into the access panel after your security checks clear out," Ryu answered. "And like I said, you'll be focusing your work on the frames of MSs and Powered Exoskeletons, if, after a few months, you want to do some work on weaponry, I'll see what I can do."

"I suppose I can stay for a while, sightseeing," Snake sighed. "First time out in space."

Ryu smirked at the man. "Bar in the commercial district, Ol' Flannigans, it's a good place for a bite to eat and a drink," he suggested. "If you're interested."

"And while we're at it…" Snake paused as his iDroid began beeping in a certain specific pattern, frowned and continued, "I'd like to discuss your security measures."

Ryu raised his eyebrow in response, before turning to the students. "Go ahead and familiarize yourself with the equipment here, and don't touch anything that says you shouldn't touch it," he said before turning his attention back to Snake. "Go on."

* * *

 **Elsewhere in Heliopolis**

* * *

"I can't believe we're stuck like this while the Commander figures out a new plan!" a boy with silver hair in a bowl cut groaned out loud, adjusting his shirt. He was NOT used to walking around in civilian clothing while on a mission, dammit! That was Intel's job!

"Calm down, Yzak, ranting like that is just going to draw attention to us," a different boy with curly green hair and soft features chastised him.

"Easy for you to say, Nicol! You're the most used to walking around in plain clothing!" Yzak grumbled, kicking a can. It flew off into the air, completely missed the dustbin in a nearby alley and bounced off a cardboard box instead.

"Well, at least this way we get to look at hot chicks without them running away from us," a blonde boy grinned, surveying the area. "ORB's got some pretty exotic-looking ones, you know?"

"Save your skirt-chasing for sometime else, Dearka, we're on a mission here," a blue-haired boy, the apparent leader of the group scolded. "While we wait for Intel to report back, we scout out the area first, gather information about this group that High Command seems to be scared of."

"Ever the career soldier, huh, Athrun?" Dearka sighed. "Fine, fine, I'll put it off for later."

Yzak sighed and walked over to where the can had stopped, picking it up and tossing it into the dustbin proper.

He completely missed the fact that the cardboard box it had bounced off earlier had seemingly disappeared.

"But it's like looking for a needle in a haystack!" Dearka groaned. "Sure, go out, and look for some military-looking dudes - as if they'd be walking around in uniform sticking out like sore thumbs…"

"If anything they'll likely be around Morgenroete," Athrun mused, looking into an alley and just managing to spot a dark silhouette that seemed to be moving. On closer inspection though, it was just a cardboard box. "Say, do you have this feeling that we're being watched?"

"You're thinking too much, Athrun," Dearka waved it off. "We're in plain clothes, no one's going to watch us for no reason."

"I suppose so," the leader conceded. "Anyway, just wait for the signal from the Commander before we go back to grab our gear. Until then, we'll just have to keep looking."

After the group of soldiers-in-disguise moved on, the cardboard box Athrun had dismissed moved away further into the alley on two legs that had seemingly sprouted from beneath it.

* * *

 **Ryu's Personal Workshop, Morgenroete Factory District**

* * *

"The equipment in this place is amazing," Kira commented reverently as he looked over the computer equipment that Ryu had set up in his lab. "These computers are about as close to supercomputers as you can get without being supercomputers…"

"No kidding," Sai agreed. "These models aren't even supposed to be out on the market yet…"

"I wish I could bring one home," Kagami was staring at one of the computers.

"Forget the computers," Tolle said with a wistful sigh. "The Oni is where it's at, the fact that they managed to only lower the energy battery's output about 10% despite the miniaturization is amazing, it _should_ have been only 50% as effective! Not to mention the infantry sized beam weapons, those are only deployed on warships!"

"Umm… It still doesn't have much p-power in it," Hanami was studying one of the computers with some research notes displayed on it. "The b-beam rifle can get off only 6 shots at most."

"Hey, I wonder, could it be possible to convert some of them miniaturized energy batteries into clips for the rifle?" Kuzzey suggested in realization. "We might have to reduce the size a bit more, but we may be able to make them into separate clips."

"Possible," Fubuki mused, studying one of the spare batteries. "Actually, why not just make the batteries slot into the back of the rifle instead? You won't need to decrease the size since it won't be getting in the way then."

"We will need to modify the weapon design to a bullpup model then," Tolle pointed out as he moved over to look over said rifle on display. "This one is a standard rifle design, but if we can access the original blueprints we should be able to modify them."

"What do bulls have to do with rifles?" a confused Fubuki asked.

"Bullpup rifles carry the magazine in the stock of the weapon," Ryu explained as he walked towards them, a grin on his face. "Not sure _why_ they call it bullpup though, but that is good thinking, I'll print off the blueprints for you."

"I thought you said they weren't going to be working on weapons," Snake sighed, rejoining the group as well together with Quiet.

Ryu shrugged. "Considering that they're wanting to?" he pointed out. "I ain't going to be deploying them into combat zones if I can help it if that's what you're worried about, but if they can help save the lives of soldiers if it comes down to it… I will let them."

"Alright, then I have a suggestion," Snake said gruffly, holding out a combat knife. When he pressed a button on it, it suddenly began emitting glowing blue streams of electricity. "Make a better version of this that can be put on a mobile suit or an Oni. We have a gun version of this deployed on our Walker Gears called a H-Discharger, but we've failed to miniaturize it so far."

"Ah, may I?" Kira asked, reaching out for the knife, at Snake's nod he picked it up. "Looks similar to a stun baton… but has an edge instead of a flat surface…"

"Ryu has the data on the H-Discharger, you can study that," Snake added, with a glance at Ryu.

"What's a W-Walker Gear?" Hanami asked, roughly remembering Snake mentioning that term earlier.

"Personal-sized bipedal vehicle, highly versatile, capable of using small arms and not-so-small arms," Snake explained, thinking about the gatling gun some of the Walker Gears were equipped with.

"Antiques," Ryu clarified. "Updated antiques, but antiques nonetheless, pretty much where mobile suits spawned from."

"Old but gold, still more reliable than your unproven Oni for now," Snake fired back.

"My Oni can take on any ten of your best Walkers and pilots any day of the week," Ryu shot back. "While it is true it's deployment time isn't up to snuff, that's just because of _today's_ technological limitation."

"Wasn't disputing that," Snake nodded. "Once you get it… _battle_ -tested, I'll see how it performs and I may put in an order for more." He put particular emphasis on the word 'battle'.

Ryu rolled his eyes. "Hey Quiet, make sure to take a picture of his dropped jaw when he sees it in action, will you?" he asked the sniper.

Quiet let out a sigh and shook her head in amusement at the ongoing pissing contest.

"Anyways, please step back from the Oni, kiddies," Ryu requested. "I'm going to be doing some basic performance tests today, and you guys get to observe and collect data from it."

"By the way, Ryu, what else you got going on around this area?" Snake asked. "This Oni can't be the only thing Morgenroete is working on."

"G-Weapons, in Hangar Five," Ryu answered in response. "Some of them are being shipped today to the Angel Project in Bay Four, also there are the ORB units that are awaiting field testing in Hanger Eight."

"Hm, I see," Snake nodded, looking satisfied with the answer as he pulled out his iDroid, inputting a message on a holographic keyboard. He took particular care to prevent the kids from being able to look at it.

Ryu chuckled as he stepped up to the Oni and toggled a switch, causing it to open up. "If you're interested, the other two Onis for you are in that container there," Ryu said, pointing out said container as he positioned himself within the armor. "If you are interested in testing them for yourselves that is."

"Quiet might have trouble with it," Snake reminded.

"Ah, right... _that_ ," Ryu muttered. "I'll see what I can do for modifying it like your space suit… although it might not be possible without weakening the armor."

Quiet shrugged and gave a nod, even as she stared at a sniper rifle on one of the weapon racks.

"Go ahead," Ryu said. "It's probably more powerful than your Butterfly."

Quiet picked up the rifle effortlessly, ran her hands over it for a moment to familiarize herself with the layout. A moment later, she turned the safety off and spun on the spot to fire a bright green beam through several open doors to put a smoking hole in a target on the complete other side of the workshop.

She put it back on the rack, shaking her head.

Ryu shrugged. "Try the one above it," he suggested. "Coilgun, not quite Railgun, but just as good in my opinion."

Quiet took hold of the rifle, hefting it easily despite its apparent weight. She gave it another once-over, before aiming it at the same target and squeezing the trigger. This time the tungsten spike exited the barrel quietly and went right through the target. She gave an approving nod and slung it around her back before freezing and looking at Ryu, then looking back at the gun.

"It's yours, that's the final production model anyways, too expensive to mass produce and maintain," Ryu said, waving his free hand as he checked over the Oni's systems. "Hell, might even punch through a GiNN's armor in the right places."

Quiet let a mysterious smile form on her face.

"She's already done that," Snake explained.

The students stared at Quiet, jaws hanging open.

"You kids are looking at the best sniper in the world," Ryu commented to the students. "Now Quiet, I want to see that rifle at least once a month for specialized maintenance, your guys in R&D are more likely to break it if they do more than general maintenance."

The mute sniper had a scandalized look on her face as she cradled the weapon close to her body protectively.

"Any chance of giving it nonlethal ammunition?" Snake asked. "I'd rather not kill potential recruits."

Ryu hummed in response. "Maybe," he responded. "Might be able to deliver a long ranged, non-lethal electrical charge."

"Potential recruits?" Kagami blinked.

"Diamond Dogs have this practice of recruiting… from enemy ranks," Snake chuckled.

"But… doesn't that increase the chance for betrayal?" Mir asked in confusion.

"It's my reputation," Snake scratched his head. "No one betrays Big Boss… except for one man I exiled from Diamond Dogs more than a year ago. We've had a few cases of insubordination, but after taking down that GiNN, there haven't been any more."

"After all, who wants to have the man who took out a GiNN on foot without being seen after them?" Ryu questioned sardonically. "How are the readings looking, anything in the red?"

"Huh?" Tolle questioned, snapping out of his funk before looking at the screens. "Uhhh… no redlines here with the Battery, all connectors are online and active, air supply is good."

"Alright, closing up," Ryu announced before the suit closed in around him, sealing him within. "All systems check green."

"I'll be back in an hour," Snake waved, heading towards the exit with Quiet in tow. "Quiet, go quiet."

The students could have sworn Quiet simply vanished into thin air.

"Hanami, would you mind bringing up the equipment linkage screen and telling me how it looks?" Ryu asked the silverette.

"D-Did Quiet-san just disappear into thin air?" Hanami seemed a little distracted.

Kagami was rubbing her eyes. "I think she did," she muttered.

"Pay attention please," Ryu called out. "Quiet's just that good at her job."

"No kidding," Tolle murmured, a dreamy look on her face. "She was kind of hot too…"

A loud 'thwack' was heard as Mir smacked him upside the head before folding her arms with an irritated huff. "Men," she groused, rolling her eyes.

"What about me?" Kagami teased, sidling up against Tolle playfully.

Tolle let out a strangled 'urk' sound as he paled under Mir's harsh gaze. "Uhhh, as a boyfriend to another girl, she is automatically placed on the top of the list of any hot girls around?" he offered hesitantly.

"Hehe, it's so much fun teasing you," Kagami giggled, poking Hanami to get her attention back to the screen she was supposed to be looking at.

"K-Kagami-chan, you shouldn't tease people like that…" the shyer of the twins chided, studying the screen and blinking slightly. "M-Metallic archaea-based hydraulics?" she wondered.

"High precision hydraulic fluid control," Ryu said. "Very complicated and temperamental stuff, so if it starts to dip below 90, tell me ASAP."

"O-Okay…" Hanami nodded, keeping a close eye on the screen.

"Kagami, how do the weapon links look?" he asked the twin.

"All good," Kagami gave a thumbs up.

"Alright then, let the testing begin," Ryu said as he brought the suit online. "Let me know if anything flashes red kids, I don't want to crash this thing."

* * *

 **Vesalius, Outside Heliopolis**

* * *

Rau studied the latest information from the Intelligence team, frowning as he recalled the footage of the man fighting where he had used incredible stealth tactics to take his enemies down. Once the fighting started, it would become nigh-impossible to pin the man's exact location down, so they needed to find him first. The alternative would be to simply attack in enough numbers that even his hiding skill wouldn't allow him to escape unscathed. They did have enough mobile suits on hand for that classic brute force strategy.

He made up his mind.

"Ades, commence the next phase in 0030 hours. Use the plan we agreed on earlier, but we launch all mobile suits at once," Rau ordered, leaning back in his chair. "The commandos will return to the safehouse immediately and retrieve their equipment in preparation for the attack."

"Sir?" Ades questioned in confusion. "But… what about the Council? They have yet to contact us."

"We've already dawdled too long, Ades," Rau reasoned. "The best opportunity is for us to seize the prototypes as they're being transported. Any longer and we'll have to risk even more of our men by attacking their carrier directly. Zala would agree with me."

"Very well, Commander," Ades agreed reluctantly. "Comms, contact the away team and have them prepare for combat, all pilots are to report to their units and prepare for deployment according to plan Alpha-Zulu, switch to Condition Yellow, upon launching first wave of attacks, switch to Condition Red."

"Remember, we can't afford to waste a single second," Rau instructed. "The longer our commandos stay out on recon, the higher the risk they'll be discovered."

"Yessir," the comms officer replied before turning to his station to contact the commandos.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **AstralXYZ:** Here we go with the first chapter! We're getting started with the real action next chapter, which is getting me excited to write all the action Snake is going to get involved in! Note that this crossover will focus more on the Gundam Seed side of things from here on out, but we'll be twisting some parts of the plot a little to show off Snake's abilities. Who knows, we might be able to end this fanfic with a different conclusion to the Seed arc.

 **DragonKnightRyu** : And considering we have Big Boss hanging around… that is very likely, I'm honestly wondering how long Rau will survive with Snake on the scene.

 **AstralXYZ:** As I post this now, we already have chapter 2 in the works and it'll be done soon, but I'll only post it once we're halfway through chapter 3 or so. It's just to make sure that we can make corrections to the plot as needed, please understand. We're trying to make this story as solid as possible. That said, Metal Gear Solid V is a Hideo Kojima game! Leave some reviews if you've enjoyed the story so far - constructive criticism and suggestions are always welcome.

* * *

 ****

 ** **Review replies:****

 **blackbulletXV,** I will neither confirm nor deny that Snake will be seen piloting a mobile suit. ;)

 **MEleeSmasher,** the problem is that we've already brought them over to the Gundam Seed universe and there aren't likely to be any more MGS characters coming in other than members of Diamond Dogs from our own games. The Boss will not make an appearance in this fanfic, I'm sorry to say, but she will be mentioned.


	3. Chapter 2: The Storm

**Disclaimer: We own neither the Metal Gear Solid nor the Gundam franchises, though I do wish I could write stories like Kojima can. Also, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a Hideo Kojima game!**

 **Co-written with DragonKnightRyu**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: The Storm**

* * *

 **Space Colony Heliopolis**

* * *

"Hm!?" a blonde man in a pilot suit jerked upright as he felt his sixth sense tingling. "Fuck me, Le Creuset's here!"

He practically jumped off the bunk where he had been resting and zipped up his pilot suit all the way while grabbing his helmet from a nearby stand. That done, he cracked his knuckles and stalked towards the door with a heavy feeling weighing over his heart. That sense of his was never wrong - oh how he hated it sometimes.

"Lieutenant?" another pilot questioned in confusion as the man brushed past. "What do you mean?"

"Get to your units! ZAFT is coming!" Lieutenant Mu La Flaga reached the door and opened it, scrambling out and heading for the hangar where his Moebius Zero was stored. "I know the masked bastard - he'll be attacking the colony, repercussions be damned!" he growled.

"Y-yes sir!" the pilots responded, grabbing his helmet as well as they hurried to the hangar. "But… how do you know it's him?"

"It's a gut feeling, and I'm always right about this kind of thing," Mu explained, picking up the pace. "Just get in your units, he'll come very soon."

"Right," the pilot replied unsurely, but wasn't willing to contradict his superior.

It didn't take long at all for the alarms to start blaring, while they were still halfway to the hangar where their units were being kept.

" _Condition Red! Condition Red! ZAFT GiNNs are attacking the colony!"_ the captain reported over the comms.

At the same time, the entire ship shook as explosions rocked the colony.

"Fuck me," Mu repeated, breaking into a run.

* * *

 **Morgenroete Factory District**

* * *

"I don't know how large a scale this attack is going to be, but it seems there's a very good chance it's ZAFT on the attacking side," Snake said, completely unfazed by the shaking, letting his throat mike pick up what he was saying as he spotted his gear - hidden in a cardboard box that had been shipped into the base by the Support Unit. "We'll likely have mobile suits attacking us, so get your heavy weapons ready."

He motioned for Quiet to head to a tall communications tower nearby - he heard more than saw her move, kicking up dust clouds as she ran towards it at superhuman speed while still invisible. Snake then climbed into the cardboard box. When he emerged, he was wearing a black padded suit, with a few bags for equipment arranged around his person. A grenade launcher hung on his side, and a semiautomatic sniper rifle with a blue-coloured barrel and magazine rested on his back. His tranquilizer pistol was now in a holster on his hip too.

"Kilo Squad, your main priority is to protect the civilians - we can't afford to let them get dragged into this fight," Snake ordered on the fly, even as he pulled out a piece of folded cardboard and quickly opened it up into a full-sized cardboard box that looked like it was used to store equipment. "Get Code Talker to safety too. I'll be at Hangar Five in Morgenroete to give our guests a welcoming gift…"

" _Yes, sir!"_ came a chorus of voices in reply.

"Now… to wait," Snake muttered, looking across the road at Hangar Five, where he could see the faint silhouettes of several mobile suits lying on their backs inside. He pulled out his Int-Scope and zoomed in, frowning when he realized there were only two there. Ryu had mentioned five in this hangar when he had asked him again earlier… so that meant there were three more out on the roads that he had no way to defend.

"Morgenroete isn't going to be very happy about losing three of their units…" he grunted. "Quiet, you cover Hangar Eight."

A burst of static on the comms signalled her acknowledgement.

* * *

 **Somewhere in Heliopolis**

* * *

"So that's it…" Yzak lowered his binoculars, looking at the trailers carrying three grey-coloured mobile suits, alongside their armed escort. "They've moved on a bit further than estimated, but not far enough to lose us."

"The mobile suits being developed by the EA," Dearka murmured. "They certainly look different from our GiNNs."

"Products of an inferior race," Yzak scoffed. "They really did come out of their holes when we poked them."

"Don't get too cocky when engaging the enemy, Yzak," Athrun reprimanded. "Natural, _or_ Coordinator, bullets kill all the same."

"Yeah, yeah, not like those monkeys'll be able to hit us anyway," the silver-haired soldier mocked as he gestured for Dearka to do it.

Dearka nodded as he pulled out a handheld transponder, pressing the button to send an encrypted signal to the awaiting ZAFT forces. "Message is away," he informed.

"Those Naturals are blockheads anyway," Yzak resumed staring at the convoy of vehicles, patiently waiting for the incoming support.

"Well, don't forget, those 'blockheads', as you put them, are the reason we exist," Nicol pointed out. "Without them, there would be no Coordinators."

"Well, we should just consign them to history then," Yzak said smugly. "It's the age of the Coordinators now."

Behind them, Athrun remained silent as he stared down at the moving convoy, his face set into stone as he mentally prepared himself for the coming battle, just in time for their support to crash in from the central shaft, descending down upon the convoy. "Let's go!" he shouted out in command.

* * *

 **Ryu's Personal Workshop, Morgenroete Factory District**

* * *

"W-W-What was that!?" Hanami gasped as she clung to one of the walls for support as the entire place shook.

Ryu quickly pulled up the battle reports from within the Oni, finding that the EA escort for the Archangel had already launched their mobile armors, while ZAFT… seemed to have thrown absolutely everything they had at _Heliopolis_. "I want all of you within the shelters," he commanded as he detached the Oni from the power cables that he was using to power the suit instead of it's internal battery. "The colony is under attack from ZAFT."

"What!? Why!?" Kagami demanded, similarly using the terminals to pull up reports from all over the colony.

"Probably because of the mobile suits we are producing for the EA," Ryu said calmly as he began loading the Oni with weapons, specifically the shoulder-mounted railgun and a three tube rocket launcher, as well as the gatling cannon that was mounted onto his arm. "And before you say anything, Cagalli, no, this is not your father's fault, this is ZAFTs fault for deciding to attack while they were within the Colony."

"Damn it!" Cagalli shouted, slamming her fist against the wall.

"Can we do anything to help?" Fubuki asked.

Ryu shook his head, the helmet moving with the motion. "The best you can do right now is get to safety," he told them. "I will not endanger civilians."

"B-But… what about you?" Kuzzey stared at Ryu, shaking in fear.

"I will be aiding the security forces in pushing the enemy back," he told them. "Don't worry, I'll be fine, the Oni is resistant to small arms fire, so no worries from lightly armed commandos."

"I'm looking for the nearest shelter now!" Kagami shouted, furiously typing away at her terminal.

"As soon as you find it, get there, if your hear gunfire, avoid the area," he told them. "As soon as the danger has passed, I'll come get you guys, alright?"

"R-Right!" Hanami nodded, glancing at the weapons rack for a moment. "U-Ummm, is it okay if we use some of t-these? J-Just in case!"

Ryu glanced over to them, before nodding. "Yes," he confirmed, his reluctance clear in his voice. "But use them only as a last resort."

"That's the plan…" Fubuki sighed, walking over and picking up an assault rifle. She paused for a moment when she realized she didn't know how to operate it, but after a few seconds worth of examining it, she managed to figure out the safety, the mode selector and the magazine ejector button.

Hanami hesitantly took the beam sniper rifle that Quiet had passed up earlier, relying on what she had learned from watching the mute sniper and firing a test shot at the same target. She wasn't quite as accurate though, and it completely missed.

"Hey, I think these are spare cells for it, Hanami," Tolle called out to her, holding out a case for the silverette, before picking up a Designated Marksman Rifle and testing it out briefly.

Kira himself swallowed tightly before hesitantly picking up a submachine gun, mimicking the others as he tested it. "I really hope we don't have to use these," he whispered to himself.

"I completely agree…" Kagami sighed, sliding on a pair of shoulder holsters with handguns in them. "It's one thing to see them in movies, but to actually use them…" she tested the grip of one of the handguns, aiming it at another target and firing. She was quite impressed when the bullet shot out without much of a sound, clearly the guns were very well suppressed.

Mir's hand shook slightly as she picked up a handgun of her own. "Man… this feels… heavier than they look," she quietly whispered as she slid on a shoulder harness of her own.

"E-Er, I think I'll pass…" Kuzzey shook his head when Kagami offered him a handgun.

"Yeah, same here," Sai spoke up. "Sorry, but… my hands won't stop shaking right now…"

"Are you all ready then?" Ryu asked quietly.

"The closest shelter…" Kagami paused to stare at the screen. "... is beyond Hangar Eight."

Ryu cursed to himself softly. "Alright, it's on the way," he said resolutely. "I'll escort you most of the way before continuing on, do you have everything you need?"

"Yeah, we're o-o-okay," Hanami nodded, her hands shaking slightly before she took a deep breath to calm herself down.

Ryu nodded. "Let's go then," he called out before heading for the door, the armor causing his foot falls to clunk loudly off the floor.

The first thing the group heard upon the hangar doors sliding open was the sound of gunfire. A few bullets even flew past them, causing Hanami to shriek and duck behind Ryu's armour.

Ryu quickly zero'd in on the source of the fire, a squad of green coated commandos who seemed to be firing indiscriminately. "Get down!" he commanded the students as he lifted up the Oni's gatling cannon and took aim, and quickly opened fire on the squad, ripping two of them to shreds as the last three hit the dirt. "Move, now!"

"W-What the heck is that!?" one of the greencoats shouted. "Some kind of personal-size mobile suit!?"

The students seized the chance to move up to the next bit of cover, a few metal crates further up ahead. Kagami growled at the attacking soldiers, and poked one of her guns out of cover to spray a few bullets in their general direction without aiming.

As soon as the students were behind cover, Ryu activated the thrusters on the Oni, bringing him up to a slight hover as he charged towards the soldier's position, using Kagami's fire as cover to flank the soldiers, a brief second of horror flickering over their faces as he came around their cover, gatling cannon already spinning up to fire as he took aim.

Hanami had been leaning out for a look and had to suppress the urge to throw up at the messy sight. Kuzzey didn't quite have the same willpower as he emptied his stomach out on the ground behind them.

"You best get it out now," Ryu advised. "There may not be time later," he turned to scan the surrounding area. "If you cannot get to the emergency shelters, take cover inside the workshops and lock them down!" he shouted out to the surviving Morgenroete workers. "Anyone with a combat rating will be needed at the hangers to repel the ZAFT invaders!"

"C-Chief Engineer Hisanaga!?" one of the techs gasped, recognizing the voice coming from the apparent miniaturized mobile suit.

"You have your orders!" Ryu shouted out. "Anyone with a combat rating here?"

"S-sir!" the workers replied, several of them stepping forward with assault rifles. "We're all that's left for those with combat ratings, the others were either injured or killed, sir."

Ryu nodded. "Get to the hangars, on the way pick up as many combat rated as you can, we cannot allow ZAFT to get the ORB prototypes," he ordered. "As soon as I get these civilians to the shelters I'll regroup with you there."

"Yessir!" the tech replied before running off.

Several GiNNs flew overhead on a pass, spraying the area with fire from their machine guns while being careful not to hit the hangars. Luckily none of the shells came close to hitting the students or Ryu, but some of the techs weren't as lucky. This time, Hanami caught full sight of it, and couldn't rein in her urge to vomit. Kagami held her hair back as she did.

"Dammit!" Ryu cursed as the GiNN flew past, ensuring that his helmet recorder was on. "Attacking unaffiliated people like that! When it's all up, let me know and we will keep moving."

Even as he spoke, several small missiles streaked towards the GiNN, impacting against its armour mostly ineffectively - they had been too small for it to intercept. It turned towards the source of the launch, where a man in a black suit wearing a balaclava around his head was standing with a large missile launcher on his shoulder. A logo of a snarling dog over a diamond with the words 'Diamond Dogs' displayed proudly over it was visible on his sleeve.

"Go!" he shouted, diving into a nearby hangar as the GiNN sprayed his area with gunfire. At the same time, another series of missiles flew towards it from a completely different direction. "The Boss called us in to help! He's got Hangar Four covered, and Quiet's covering Hangar Eight! They're safe enough for you to take cover in if you can't reach the shelters!"

Ryu nodded. "Send our thanks," he shouted. "If you need more firepower," he pointed to his own 'workshop'. "There's an armory in there!"

"Won't be needed!" the man came back out with another launcher tube and aimed it at the GiNN while running past the group towards a different hangar in the opposite direction from where they were going. "I've got enough CGMs hidden all around the base to smoke a whole army!"

Ryu nodded before turning to the others as they seemed to be ready to go. "Alright then, follow me," he told them. "You'll all be fine, okay?"

"Y-Yeah…" Hanami whispered weakly, lurching back to her feet and trying to steel herself.

Ryu nodded. "We should be mostly fine from here on out," he assured. "Especially if the Diamond Dogs have deployed."

The GiNN flew overhead them, completely ignoring them this time as its clearly very annoyed pilot yelled out, " _Hey, get back here you missile-loving Naturals!"_

"Wow… they get annoyed easily, don't they?" Kira asked skeptically. "Aren't soldiers supposed to be disciplined?"

"He's eating missiles from all around the base…" Tolle murmured in amazement. "When did they get into Morgenroete anyway?"

"Oh… since they arrived on Heliopolis," Ryu answered in response.

"I never even noticed them…" Mir blinked.

"And that's the whole point," Ryu affirmed as he checked a corner before waving the students through. "Diamond Dogs are the best at not being seen."

The students ran around the corner only for a bunch of greencoats to suddenly appear out of nowhere. They only took one look at the armed students before opening fire, forcing them to dive into cover into the nearby hangar.

"The G-Weapon hangar," Ryu muttered as he prepared the Oni's weapons.. "Snake, you there!?"

Ryu had barely any chance to even raise his gun before a canister flew out and dropped right between the greencoats' feet. They suddenly found themselves covered in smoke, before the students and Ryu heard loud yells and bodies hitting the ground. When the smoke cleared, Snake was standing there with his handgun and knife in hand, and the greencoats lying on the ground apparently stunned.

"Already KOed a pair of reds earlier," he jerked his thumb back towards the hangar. "They're sleeping at the moment."

Ryu nodded his thanks. "I'm getting the kids to the shelters," he told him. "Combat-rated staff members will be gathering here and at Hangar Five, if there are many left that is."

"You talking about the shelter after Hangar Eight?" Snake asked gruffly, as he fired a round from his handgun into the head of one of the soldiers, much to the students' horror. "Access is blocked, one of the GiNNs dropped a building on top of the entrance. And kiddos, this is a tranquilizer gun."

Ryu cursed, his mind working quickly as he tried to think of options to protect the students, with only one result coming to mind. "The mobile suits," he said finally. "They can take shelter inside of them."

"ZAFT will come for them anyway, if they've failed to secure them they'd rather blow them up," Snake pointed out. "I hate to ask this, but can they pilot?"

Ryu growled and looked over to the students. "Do any of you think you can pilot a mobile suit in an emergency?" he asked them.

After a moment of silence, Kira and the three Yukikaze sisters raised their hands.

Tolle was half-hearted in his response. "Maybe?" he offered. "I'm able to pilot power loaders, and the control scheme is somewhat similar."

"It'll have to do I guess," Ryu muttered. "Are the Strike and the Aegis still secure?"

"They are," Snake confirmed, dragging the downed greencoats into the hangar. "Hangar Eight seems secure, but Quiet's been forced to move a few times so I'm not sure how long it'll last. And she can't see into the hangar, so there's another problem if they're already inside."

Ryu frowned but nodded. "Kira, Tolle, get to the Strike and Aegis inside this hanger, and listen to Snake, if he tells you to deploy them, do so," he ordered. "Fubuki, Kagami, Hanami, you three will come with me to Hangar Eight to secure the other units."

"R-Right!" Hanami nodded, before turning to look at Mir, Sai and Kuzzey. "What about them?"

"You three will split up among the Strike and Aegis," Ryu told them. "It wouldn't make sense to drag you across a battlefield, you should be safe here."

"They will be," Snake waved, peeking out and aiming his prosthetic left arm around the corner before yelling, "ROCKET PUNCH!" - and much to the students' surprise, firing the arm out like a rocket. A loud yell and a thump could be heard a moment later.

The students blinked in unison and rubbed their eyes, staring at the leader of one of the most famous PMCs in the world after he had performed something normally thought impossible for a human that had come right out of your average super robot show.

"Did… did he just do a literal rocket punch?" Tolle asked, halfway between disbelief and awe.

The arm came back a moment later and docked back onto the arm stub, dragging an unconscious greencoat along with it..

"He did," Kagami was rubbing her eyes.

"That… that…" Sai tried to form the proper words for what he was feeling.

"That was amazing!" Kuzzey finished, his eyes glimmering in awe.

"I can't decide if that was cool, amazing, or stupid," Kagami muttered to herself.

"I-I-It was kind of cool…" Hanami commented.

"Alright you three, enough gawking at Snake's guilty pleasure," Ryu said admonishingly. "Let's get to Hangar Eight, the sooner, the better."

"Keep an eye on those few too," Snake gestured at the pair of unconscious redcoats lying beside one of the mobile suits, where they had been joined by a bunch of greencoats too. A long-haired brunette in a yellow maintenance uniform and a cap was alternating between tying them up with rope and staring at Snake in apparent disbelief. "Keep them knocked out and out of the fight, club them over the head if you have to."

"R-right!" The worker confirmed as she finished tying them up before looking around and grabbing a rather solid looking lead pipe.

"Quiet's in position to cover the area from here until Hangar Eight," Snake said, peeking out for a moment. "You've got a one minute window before she'll have to move again. I'll have some more men move into the hangar and clear it out, but you might have to hold it by yourself until they can get there."

Ryu nodded as he quickly checked over the amor systems. "I should be able to make use of a charging station to top up the Oni's power supply," he confirmed. "We should be good, get ready you three, on my mark, we move."

Kagami reloaded one of her guns, but fumbled putting the magazine in and dropped it on the ground. She scrambled for it and slotted it back in. "R-Ready," she said, her hands shaking.

"Likewise," Fubuki nodded, her nerves scrambled enough for her hands to be shaking too.

Hanami just nodded, hiding her hands behind her.

Ryu looked them over. "Don't worry," he assured softly. "This will all be over soon enough," seeing their nerves settle a bit he nodded before looking outside of the hanger again. "I'll go out first, and tell you when to move."

Ryu then moved forward, the powered hydraulics launching him into the open area between the hangers, scanning the area with both the Oni's Identification Friend-or-Foe recognition software and his own eyes, sweeping the arm holding the gatling cannon over the area before looking over to the three silverettes. "Move, quickly!" he called out.

The sisters nodded, flashing Kira and the other students a thumbs up before dashing out towards the other hangar.

Kira swallowed tightly as he watched his friends until they disappeared from sight, ducking into the alleyways between the hangers for cover before turning his eyes to the captured ZAFT soldiers, the nervous tech watching over them carefully.

His eyes darted to their faces, wondering just what kind of man would be so willing to attack an innocent colony so easily. His eyes landed on one of the red coated commandos as his breath caught in his throat. "A-Athrun?" he gasped out in shock as he scrambled forward to study the face through his helmet.

"You know him, Kira?" Tolle asked a little fearfully.

"Yeah… he's… he's the one who made Tori," Kira answered in a daze, still in shock at his friend's presence as a soldier.. "But… why is he here? He _hated_ war… he wanted nothing to do with it…"

"You can ask him later after this whole mess is over," Tolle looked up at the mobile suits inside the hangar, even as yet another explosion rocked the district. "Come on, at the very least we can't let ZAFT take those mobile suits!"

"A-Aren't you kids just students?" the worker with the pipe asked, staring at them.

"A-Actually… we were just hired by Chief Engineer Hisanaga today," Sai informed sheepishly as Kira was dragged away by Tolle towards the mobile suits.. "Heck of a first day. huh?"

"I'll say…" the worker nodded, looking at the mobile suits too. "I'll just let you know first, those are classified military secrets. I'll have to ask you to keep everything you learn about them a secret."

"We already signed the confidentiality agreements with anything relating to the Boss' projects," Mir explained. "Which is apparently… alot."

"My hands are still hurting from all the signing…" Kuzzey wrung his hands.

"I'll be frank with you people," the worker took off her cap. "This is an EA military secret."

"Hey, Kira, isn't this the OS you, Hanami, Kagami and Fubuki were working on?" Tolle called out from the cockpit of the Aegis. "The one Kato had you working on?"

"Y-yeah," Kira called out from the Strike distractedly before forcing himself to focus. "This is it exactly, all the parameters are way off though."

"Can you fix it? Just in case we have to pilot them?" Tolle slid into the cockpit and booted the systems up.

"Yeah, I think I should be able to," Kira confirmed, already at work at the keyboard. "Give me a minute, I'm pretty much having to rewrite the entire thing."

"I'm a Natural though, this system makes absolutely no sense to me either way," Tolle frowned, experimentally moving some sticks. "Kira, at least make sure that yours can move. I'm alright just sitting in here and keeping the hatch closed."

"Already compensating for Natural-use, Tolle," Kira called out. "Remember, who made the OS for the power loader?"

"Do you even have time for that?" Tolle raised an eyebrow, looking over the radar display. It was showing no hostile mobile suits… yet.

"Maybe," Kira returned non-committally. "For movement, yes, combat, maybe not, I just need to modify the power loader OS you use to scale for movement, but a combat worthy OS would need precision settings."

"That's alright for now, Kira," the aspiring pilot nodded, gripping the controls. "Heh, it'll be fine if I can even punch or kick a GiNN with this thing."

"Right," Kira muttered in distraction. "Open your unit's connection, I'll upload the OS."

Tolle took a minute to find the needed option before activating it. "It's open," he called out.

"Uploading it now," Kira returned as he continued to update his own OS. "The Strike is combat ready… except I don't have any weapons other than Igelstellungs and Armor Schneiders."

"I have a beam rifle and beam sabers on top of the Igelstellungs," Tolle checked the armament list. "None of which are properly calibrated and usable."

"The Strike utilizes a pack based support system," the tech called out. "Without a pack equipped, it doesn't have any significant weapons."

"Seems kind flawed to me," Kira muttered. "Are there any packs around here?"

"They're in a different hangar!" the tech shouted. "You'll have to run over there and get it!"

"Don't," Snake countermanded, still watching the outside of the hangar. "That'll draw attention here and make it harder for Ryu to get to the other units in Hangar Eight."

"Ah… right," the tech muttered, a small flush coming over her face. "Wait… more units? I thought that the G-Weapons were the only ones in development here?"

"I'm not from Morgenroete, you'll have to ask someone else for answers," Snake spoke out, watching as another GiNN was led away from their hangar by another bunch of small missiles. "Get those units ready to move fast. The moment Ryu gets the others started up, we move."

"Right, the OS's are set, and startup will be quick, so give the word and we will be ready to go in one minute," Kira replied.

"Good," Snake nodded, then froze. "Dammit, Quiet's been dislodged earlier than expected. Ryu, you've got no more cover!"

* * *

 **Near Hangar Eight**

* * *

"Understood," Ryu replied as he brought the girls to a halt in a shadowed alley across from said hanger. "I'll contact you when we have an update."

He turned to the trio following him. "Quiet has been forced to relocate, we will have no cover when we approach the hangar," he informed. "If you want, we can return."

"No, we've come all this way, we might as well finish the job," Kagami said resolutely, her handguns at her side, looking across at the hangar.

"Y-Yeah… we're already past the point of n-no return…" Hanami agreed.

Ryu nodded slowly. "Alright, I'll engage the enemy, and you three make a straight shot for the units while I distract them," he instructed. "Do not engage unless they are directly between you and one of the units, alright?"

"Got it," Fubuki peeked out of cover and ducked as she caught a glint of a rifle scope. The bullet shot over the top of her head.

"Dammit!" Ryu cursed as he pulled Fubuki back. "Alright, wait until 15 seconds have passed after I engage them before moving."

With those final words he stepped out from behind the cover and opened fire with the shoulder mounted rail cannon, targeting the sniper, and drawing the attention of the nearby soldiers.

Quickly activating the Oni's thrusters, he began to hover off the ground as he charged the group, firing with his gatling cannon as he did so.

"Go, go go!" Kagami urged her sisters, who darted across the open space towards the hangar.

Hanami resisted the urge to let out a loud shriek as a stray bullet shot by her. They crossed the distance quickly, diving into the hangar successfully and gasping as they caught sight of the three units Ryu had mentioned. Fresh out of the factory, all of them were drab grey in colour, but the similarities ended there. One of them seemed to be an all-purpose model with a standardized frame, another one was massive, thick set and was on a different trailer than the others. The last one seemed to be a high-mobility model with a lighter frame and large wings.

"Don't stop!" Kagami shouted, helping the other two up. "Let's go!"

"Don't let them get to the units!" suddenly a bunch of redcoats showed up from a rear door and began opening fire on them from their rifles.

The girls ran for their lives, ducking behind the mobile suits to break line of sight with the redcoats. Fubuki and Kagami, in that respect, were luckier as their suits were the furthest away from where the soldiers had appeared from, and also closest to them. Hanami was a lot less luckier.

"I got you now, bitch!" one of the redcoats had closed in and drawn his knife without her noticing, but he didn't get a chance to do more than that as the blue-eyed silverette let out a scream and jammed her rifle into his stomach, squeezing the trigger out of instinct. The beam lanced out, vaporizing the soldier's midsection and killing him instantly. The beam also managed to hit a fuel drum, which exploded and set the area around it on fire.

"N-N-No!" Hanami, running on pure adrenaline by this point, jumped up onto her mobile suit, only to screech to a halt as her eyes found another redcoat just about to jump into the cockpit.

"Too late, Natural bitch," he sneered, squeezing the trigger.

A loud bang resounded throughout the hangar.

"HANAMI-NEE!" Fubuki screamed, watching her sister fall off the suit into the blazing inferno that had just roared to life.

"ASSHOLE!" Ryu roared as he leapt out of the flames that began to churn, the Oni living up to it's name as it appeared to be a monster leaping from the the flames, splashes of crimson red covering the armor in various places as the gatling cannon activated, literally cutting the redcoat in half.

Ryu didn't even pause to register the kill as he landed amongst the flames near where Hanami had landed, the two sisters watching fearfully from their cockpits before gasping as he surged out of the flames, a body in his arms. "Get the units out of here!" he shouted out. "Link up with the others, she needs medical care now!"

Ryu surged the thrusters on the Oni to their maximum as he moved, Hanami barely moving in his arms, her entire body was charred, the blackened skin was cracked in various places, some of those cracks were oozing blood, others were oozing pus, all of her hair had been burned off in the intense flames it was a sickening sight. ' _And it's my fault,_ ' he thought to himself remorsefully, opening a radio link with Snake. "Snake, tell me that you have medical personnel here," he all but shouted. "Hanami's been shot and has been in a fire, I barely got a pulse!"

There was a sharp intake of breath from the comms from someone that wasn't Snake.

" _That twin with the blue eyes?"_ Snake replied, shock barely evident in his tone. " _Shit. Quiet!"_

Almost immediately, the female sniper blurred into existence beside Ryu, matching his speed effortlessly despite his thrusters running on full power. She held out her hands, suppressing a gasp when she caught sight of what had used to be a beautiful girl in his armoured hands.

It reminded her of her own past, during the attack on Cyprus…

"Where?" Ryu asked tightly, obviously trying to clamp down on the panic and guilt he was no doubt feeling at the time, his hands tightening slightly around the girl in his arms, unwilling to let go.

She shrugged.

" _Ryu, none of my medics are properly equipped to treat people injured that badly. For that we'd need a full-blown hospital,"_ Snake said grimly.

Ryu cursed. "There has to be _something_ Snake!" he shouted in outrage. "The Morgenroete Workshops, emergency rooms, _something!_ I refuse to let her die because of _my_ mistake."

"Unless you're telling me there's a hospital inside Morgenroete as well as a team of surgeons willing to operate under these conditions…" Snake trailed off.

Ryu let out a wordless shout of frustration, his mind trying in vain to find a solution. "If we were on ORB with my real workshop," he muttered. "I have cybernetics and bio-tech… but here… dammit…"

" _Wait. There's one thing we might be able to do… Kilo Squad, where's Code Talker?"_ Snake realized.

" _He's at a hospital near Morgenroete, Boss,"_ one of the Diamond Dogs members reported in.

" _Quiet, bring the girl there! You're her only hope now!"_ Snake ordered.

Quiet's eyes widened as she understood what her partner was saying.

"Lead the way," Ryu said tersefully. "This… this is my fault, my responsibility."

" _We'll have Code Talker perform parasite therapy on the girl,"_ Snake said. " _At this point it's the only way to save her life. He'll transplant… Quiet's parasites onto her."_

"I… I see… if it will save her, I will accept responsibility." Ryu nodded sombrely. "This will be on my head."

" _Explanations later,"_ Snake growled. " _Her life has priority now."_

"Right, heading to the hospital, please have the way cleared," Ryu requested as he narrowed his eyes. "And when her sisters join you… tell them that she will be alright."

" _They got into their mobile suits okay?"_

"Yeah, I told them to link up with you and the others," Ryu confirmed. "The status of the Exodus is unknown at this time."

" _Chi… neer… naga… co…"_ a crackling voice cut into their comms.

Ryu scowled underneath the helmet. "The radio's being jammed," he announced. "Quiet… if we do run into hostiles, take Hanami and keep going… I'll hold them off."

Quiet nodded.

" _Get the kids to launch as soon as they're ready. The Strike and Aegis are ready to go,"_ Snake ordered.

" _Finally got through!"_ Kagami's voice could be heard as well. " _Boss, how's Hanami!?"_

Ryu paused in his response. "Bad," he admitted. "We're going to have to use an… alternative treatment for her."

A sharp intake of breath. " _W-Will Hanami-nee be okay…?"_ Fubuki joined the conversation.

Ryu swallowed, unsure how to answer. "I… I don't know," he whispered in a nearly defeated voice.

" _Well, either way the gloves are off,"_ Kagami seethed. " _They almost killed my sister. I'm returning the favour. Fubuki, get your OS fixed fast! ZAFT wants our mobile suits? They can have our mobile suits' fists!"_

" _R-Right!"_ the younger of the sisters agreed.

"Please, don't do anything reckless," Ryu pleaded.

" _I still have to see Hanami when she recovers, don't worry,"_ Kagami adopted a somewhat softer tone. " _I have faith in her…"_

"You will see her again," Ryu assured, shortly after his HUD flared as the motion tracker picked up a mobile suit coming towards them. "Quiet, take Hanami, MS inbound!"

Quiet nodded and took the charred girl into her hands, taking extreme care not to jostle her too much as she disappeared in a cloud of dust.

Ryu quickly turned the Oni to face the oncoming mobile suit, an dusky orange colored GiNN with a skull and crossbones displayed on the GiNN's shield.

Quickly running through the Oni's remaining armament and power supply, thirty minutes worth of power within combat settings, Ryu took action, leveling the rail cannon at the GiNN before opening fire.

The GiNN immediately noticed the incoming fire and began ducking and weaving to dodge the shots before coming in straight for Ryu, firing the thrusters in the reverse direction at the last possible moment to skid on the ground in front of him. The GiNN came to a stop looming over the comparatively tiny Oni ominously.

" _Oi, oi, isn't this a tiny mobile suit we have here?"_ the pilot said on the loudspeakers.

Ryu's eyes narrowed in response as he kept his breathing calm, analyzing the surrounding area, plenty of blind corners and shadowed areas to take advantage of, plus, the enemy was underestimating him. "This ain't no mobile suit," Ryu growled out finally as his thrusters began to flare up, bringing him up to a hover. "And you fuckers are about to learn what it means to poke the sleeping lion."

" _Were you one of those men launching those tiny missiles as us earlier? They didn't really hurt that much,"_ the pilot further added, the GiNN's mono eye staring down at the Oni and flashing briefly.

Ryu grinned fiercely under his helmet. "You're about to find out," he announced, a trio of rockets being launched from his shoulder as soon as the words were out of his mouth, while also sending the Oni hurdling towards the side taking cover between the assorted buildings.

" _Good, this'd be a boring chase otherwise!"_ the GiNN pilot gunned the thrusters, shooting forward only to discover that his prey had seemingly disappeared. " _Tch, sneaky bastard."_

Ryu watched carefully as he moved, having turned off the thrusters to hide his heat signature, the bulky armored suit moving surprisingly quietly, much of that thanks to the Metallic Archaea powered hydraulics. He moved into position, getting down on a knee and holding the rail cannon steady with a hand as he took aim, specifically, the ankle joint of the GiNN.

Once the shot was lined up, the cannon roared, launching the slug at mach speeds towards the GiNN.

The pilot of the GiNN however, sensed more than heard the round coming and quickly moved. The round only struck the knee, glancing off and hitting the building behind him instead. " _Don't get too cocky!"_ he growled, spraying the building with fire from his machine gun.

Ryu was already moving, taking cover behind a separate building, waiting for the GiNN to cease it's random firing. Picking up a rock, he hefted it in his hand before lightly tossing it towards a group of metal drums nearby, making sure to keep his unit hidden from sight.

The GiNN immediately turned towards the source of the noise.

Ryu moved silently around the GiNN as it tried to locate the source of it, getting somewhat close before he unclasped a cylindrical device from his waist and waited for the right moment.

" _Where are you, little mobile suit…"_ the pilot growled, panning the GiNN's monoeye from side to side.

Ryu quickly accessed the local Morgenroete network, his Chief Engineering codes allowing him instant access to all the systems, in particular, the intercom system.

"Like I said, this isn't a mobile suit," Ryu called out, although, instead of his voice being projected from his suit's speakers, it was projected from a speaker on the opposite side of the clearing between the two rows of hangers. "This is a powered exoskeleton, and you're about to get your ass kicked like Goliath got his handed by a pebble!"

" _Cheeky little…!"_ the GiNN spun towards the speaker, aiming its machine gun and firing.

Ryu's thrusters flared to life as he leapt into the air towards the GiNN. The cylindrical device in his hand activating causing a beam to snap to life, revealing it to be the hilt of a beam saber as he landed on the right shoulder of the GiNN. One yell of exertion later, he drove the saber into the exposed joint, severing its primary circuits and joint links.

" _Grk!"_ the pilot shook Ryu off, but the damage was already done - the arm flopped uselessly at its side. " _I'll squash you like a bug!"_ the larger mobile suit resorted to attempting to step on the Oni, but to no avail as Ryu used the thrusters to full advantage. Constantly moving, he never let the GiNN's much larger foot come within three meters of him. It helped that he was so small he was a lot harder to hit than a standard-sized mobile suit.

As he moved back he began firing rounds from his rail cannon in order to force the GiNN to back off a bit. The arm not occupied by the gatling cannon slowly reached behind him to grip a block of C4 that was planted onto a fuel container as he passed, out of sight from the GiNN. "What's wrong?" he called out over several speakers as he disappeared from sight. "Having trouble keeping up with an actual combatant? Have you been killing so many civvies you've forgotten how to actually fight?"

" _Civvies? Hell no, I've been fighting EA morons for the past year!"_ the pilot growled. " _I'll give you this, you're good, tiny mobile suit pilot. Who taught you to fight like that?"_

"You want to know how many EA soldiers are here?" Ryu snarled ignoring the question. "They're all on their fucking ships! This is ORB territory, only ORB soldiers and citizens are here."

" _I don't like this any more than you do, but I have my orders! If it takes a ZAFT invasion to show you ORB idiots that the EA is just using you to develop those mobile suits, then I'll do it myself too!"_ the pilot snarled. " _We can't let the EA get the upper hand in this war!"_

"I wonder, does that help you sleep at night, the phrase 'I'm just following orders'?" Ryu growled out. "Does it help you look your family in the eye knowing you just made orphans and widows, because 'It was ordered'/"

" _As soldiers we've all accepted that fact!"_ the pilot shouted. " _I would rather kill now to prevent the EA from being able to strike at my homeland in the future! If I don't kill now, my family could very well die from an EA invasion on the PLANTs!"_

"Yeah? And what about us on ORB?" Ryu snapped. "We don't want anything to do with this, we developed those damned things to keep them out of our fucking borders to protect our citizens, and now, you are here, _slaughtering_ them indiscriminately. Don't you fucking preach your goddamn soldier rhetoric to me. Try saying to the families you destroyed, try saying that to your family with your blood stained hands." he tightly clench his fist in anger. "Most of the people here, they didn't even know about this project, and yet you kill them anyways, you say you fight the EA, well guess what, you may just have started a war with ORB!"

" _Doesn't justify the fact that you're helping the EA to develop those things! ORB knew the risks of doing this!"_ the pilot countered, his GiNN stomping hard on the ground to make his point. " _You're not the ones with the moral high ground here, ORB, and you know it."_

"Yeah, and you do?" Ryu growled angrily. "Do you know how many innocent people I saw die today? Your soldiers _laughing_ as they gunned down unarmed civilians, people who never even held a gun."

" _Wait, what?"_ the pilot did a double take. " _ZAFT soldiers_ laughing _as they killed civilians!?"_

"Why else would I be so fucking pissed!" Ryu demanded angrily. "If it was soldiers I wouldn't give a rat's ass because they have a fucking fighting chance, but fucking civilians?"

" _We were given orders NOT to touch the civilians!"_ the other pilot growled. " _Seems that someone else has been pulling some strings…"_

Ryu paused in his offensive preparation as he considered the pilot before him. "Is it that big of a wonder?" he asked. "After all, how often do your fellow 'soldiers' say how worthless Naturals are? Not that much of a step to just plain kill them is it?"

" _The people I know say that, but they won't do much beyond talk bad about them…"_ the GiNN relaxed its pose. " _It seems that I've been given cause to retreat anyway, with how much damage you've done to my unit. Fuck, I'm tired of all this political shit we keep getting thrown into…"_

Ryu relaxed his own pose. "If you're leaving, I will not stop you," he informed, although he was wary of it being a trap. "But if you're tired of being thrown into politics, maybe you should change careers, I hear Diamond Dogs are hiring."

The GiNN performed a rather odd-looking one-armed shrug. " _I'll think about it. We'll meet again. I'm Miguel Aiman, the Magic Bullet of Dusk."_

"Chief Engineer Ryu Hisanaga," Ryu answered. "Although a certain group call me Rising Dragon."

The GiNN nodded before gunning its thrusters, taking off into the sky heading towards the colony's exit.

Ryu sighed as he shook his head. "That… was lucky," he muttered to himself, eyeing his power readouts, showing them at being at five minutes of combat power remaining. "Let's hope that luck keeps going strong…"

* * *

 **Hospital Near Morgenroete**

* * *

"Let me see her!" Code Talker called out to Quiet as she came to a halt in front of the hospital, the barely recognizable human in her arms quickly offloaded onto a waiting gurney. He frowned at the sight. " _Naat'aanii_ was correct, the only way to save her… is to perform parasite therapy on her."

"Will she be alright?" Quiet spoke, causing several of the Diamond Dogs soldiers escorting Code Talker to turn to look at her in shock - her voice wasn't very commonly heard at all!

"She will require… a skin graft from you, Quiet," Code Talker nodded with a frown. "However, I am not sure… how a Coordinator's body… will react to the parasites."

"The odds aren't 0%," the sniper stated. "Do it."

"Very well," Code Talker acquiesced. "I need a… surgeon to do this. My old arms are not as… precise as they used to be. Once the skin graft is… complete… it will take at the very least… a day for the parasites to multiply and repair her body. Gray… Chameleon, please proceed."

A woman with brown hair in a bobcut stepped forward. "Come on, we need to get to the operating theatre quickly."

"It is imperative… that the parasites rejuvenate her heart and lungs first," Code Talker instructed. "Perform the first skin grafts to her torso… Then her scalp, and then her limbs… As many as possible."

Grey Chameleon nodded her understanding as they pushed the gurney up the ramp into the hospital, moving towards the emergency room. "Quiet, go up ahead and let the team get you ready for the skin grafts," the surgeon ordered the sniper. "They will put you under for the operation, trust me, you do not want to be awake when we start pulling skin off."

Quiet shook her head. "Tranquilizers don't work on me for long because of my parasites. I can take the pain."

Grey Chameleon shook her head. "Alright, but still, go up ahead, I want the grafts ready when we arrive," she said. "This needs to be done quickly."

The sniper nodded and disappeared in a cloud of dust as she ran towards the operating theatre.

"Pass over the antibacterial soap." Chameleon requested, accepting the canister before dumping a wad of it onto her hands and slathering it all the way up to her elbows. "Sorry kid," she whispered to the comatose Hanami. "I'd normally do a proper scrub down, but we don't have the time for it."

"It is lucky… that the power is still on here…" Code Talker nodded as the colony shook again. "But the colony shaking… may complicate matters slightly. After the skin graft is complete, we will also need to slather the skin in a… special agar… to induce growth in the parasites."

Chameleon nodded in understanding as they moved. "The shaking won't be a problem," she announced. "My team have steady hands in the middle of combat. My biggest concern is the… language time bomb, will it cause her any issues?"

"It was… removed a long time ago," Code Talker supplied. "I was skeptical at first, but then again… this is a time with technology much more… advanced than ours. It stands to reason… that they would have advanced medical equipment… capable of such a feat… Do not worry. The vocal cord parasites… and the One That Covers parasites… are two different organisms."

Chameleon nodded her understanding as they came up to the entrance to the emergency room. "Here we go, people!" she called out to her team as they entered the room, Quiet was already on the table with several swaths of skin already removed and prepared for the graft. To her credit, she wasn't even flinching from the pain, and her skin was already healing over. "I want a tight operation, follow Code Talker's orders to the letter!"

The team shouted out a chorus of affirmatives as they quickly, but carefully, moved the critically injured girl over to the operating table. "Alright, scalpel," Chameleon called out, taking her position and holding out her hand. "We need to get the damaged skin removed in the graft areas…" she took a calming breath. "And say some prayers…"

* * *

 **Hangar Eight, Morgenroete Factory District**

* * *

"Finally!" Kagami shouted out as her mobile suit's OS rebooted with all the modifications she had made to it. It was a rush job, no helping it, but she'd have to fix it later when she had time. "Fubuki, you okay there?"

" _I can move, but that's about it. This mobile suit is too unique that I can't calibrate everything properly, even with the data from yours,"_ her little sister's face appeared on the HUD in front of her, shaking her head. " _I mean… the size, dimensions, power ratings, everything is just scaled so much larger that I can't compensate for it yet."_

"Kira's probably completely finished rewriting the whole thing already," Kagami sighed, gripping her controls. "He's a whiz at this kind of thing… let's have him take a look at ours later."

" _Umm… Kagami-nee?"_ Fubuki suddenly asked, looking to her side as a whirring sound began coming from there.

Kagami turned her unit's head towards the source of the sound - the final machine that had been supposed to be taken by Hanami was forcing the holding brackets off it while sitting up from its spot in the hangar… "Umm… we didn't have anyone else ready to take that one, did we?" she asked, blinking her eyes.

" _No."_

"Oh shit."

" _Don't curse like that, Kagami-nee…"_

"Get up! Get up!" Kagami hollered in a panic, pushing the sticks forward.

Her mobile suit began to clunkily climb to its feet, at the same time as Fubuki's much-heavier looking one. Already though, the third mobile suit was picking up a nearby rifle and turning to point it at the more fragile-looking of the two, Kagami's unit…

"Ugh!" Kagami grunted, pushing the sticks all the way forward.

Her unit rocketed forward on its thrusters moments before a bright green beam tore into the trailer it had been resting on. The next few shots completely missed - clearly the guy piloting it hadn't had time to calibrate the OS properly either.

A sudden crashing was heard as the white and blue Strike came barrelling through the wall, smashing into the captured unit with what was undoubtedly bone jarring force, and rammed it into the opposite wall. " _Kagami, Fubuki, are you alright?_ " Kira's voice broke in over their radios.

"We're alright! But Hanami…" Kagami trailed off, not quite wanting to describe what had happened to her twin sister.

" _I… I heard, that's why I'm here, Snake told me to come here and assist you,_ " Kira explained, his unit turning to the pinned mobile suit. " _Pilot, shut down and leave the mobile suit and you will not be harmed!_ "

" _Fuck you! I'm getting the hell out of here and you won't be stopping me! You're just a bunch of lucky kids anyway!"_ the pilot hollered right back, gunning his thrusters and just plain crashing through the wall the stolen mobile suit had landed against. Before the others could pursue, however, five GiNNs dropped from the sky to block their way.

" _Damn it!_ " Kira cursed as he pulled himself back, away from his attempted pursuit of the stolen unit. " _Kagami, Fubuki… we're going to have to fight it seems…_ "

" _Uwaaaah!"_ Fubuki yelped as her mobile suit stumbled forward, off balance after freeing itself of its trailer. The sheer bulk of the machine had the GiNN pilots gawking at it for several moments and taking a few steps back. It wasn't long before they broke out of their stupor and opened fire with their machine guns.

The shells practically just bounced off the thick armour with no apparent effect.

" _Stop it!_ " Kira shouted as he opened fire with the head mounted Igelstellungs, peppering the GiNNs with the unfortunately ineffective 75mm rounds. " _Damn it, Kagami, Fubuki, do you have any weapons?_ "

" _Umm, no!"_ Fubuki shook her head, before she realized that one of the GiNNs was closing in on her with its sword drawn. " _Nooooooo!"_ Fubuki screamed as she swung her right stick forward on reflex.

Her much heavier unit matched her movement and swung its right hand forward. Upon contact, the GiNN's sword shattered, and the fist went right through to connect with it… caving in the chest armour and sending it flying back three blocks.

"I think that counts as enough of a weapon," Kagami deadpanned, putting her unit into a run back towards its destroyed trailer where she had seen a rifle earlier. She picked it up and aimed it at one of the remaining GiNNs, pulling the trigger on her stick to fire a bright green beam of energy at it. The shot went wide, and her opponent dodged anyway. "Geh. Not calibrated."

" _I'm sending the calibrations to you now!_ " Kira called out. " _They're fairly generalized though. Tolle should be joining us in a couple of minutes in the Aegis._ "

" _Too generalized to work on mine! Waaah!"_ Fubuki's unit tipped over, still out of balance from the previous maneuver. Its head met the pavement as she banged her head on the console and went dark.

" _Fubuki? Fubuki!_ " Kira called out in a bit of a panic, having seen the giant mobile suit fall over. " _I think she's knocked out!_ "

"What a way to go out…" Kagami groaned as the four remaining GiNNs began aiming at them. "Come on, we gotta fight them off somehow!"

Kira took a deep breath as he focused himself, drawing the only other weapons the Strike had, the Armor Schneider. " _Kagami, you try to focus on the ones at range!_ " Kira instructed. " _I'll try to keep the ones that close in off of you._ "

"I just need time to fix the targeting algorithms on this rifle!" Kagami called out, pulling out a keyboard from the size of the cockpit even as her unit leapt backwards. "I'm counting on you, Kira!"

" _Right!_ " Kira affirmed, trying to suppress the nervousness in his voice as the Strike took up a combat stance. " _Oh man… this is going to suck…_ "

"Keep them off me for a minute and I might have a reward for you when we wrap this up!" Kagami winked, squeezing her breasts together for a moment with her arms before getting to work.

" _Really, Kagami?_ " Kira asked, baffled. " _In the middle of a fight?_ "

"It's for motivational purposes!" Kagami laughed, taking the rifle's operating system to town. Her expression immediately changed into a frown when she saw the code. "Really!? They can't even program this properly!?"

" _Now's not the time for complaints!_ " Kira shouted as he found himself under attack from one of the GiNNs, his combat knives holding back the GiNN's heavy sword. It made for an odd scene considering the difference in weight and scale of the melee weapons.

"Done!" Kagami shouted triumphantly, bringing her rifle to bear on the other GiNN. This time, the beam flew true and severed the GiNN's arm at the shoulder. It quickly fired its thrusters and backed off, wielding its machine gun with its remaining arm as it fired a spray of shells at Kagami.

"Grk!" she ramped her sticks forward, causing her unit to lurch forward and duck under the gunfire at the same time. While the GiNN adjusted its aim, she ran off to the side, skirmishing it from mid-range with her rifle.

" _Back… off!_ " Kira shouted as he pushed the GiNN back, shoving it off balance long enough to drive the combat daggers into each shoulder joint, rendering them useless, before using his thrusters to boost away and towards another GiNN, attempting to drive his dagger into the cockpit area,

The single GiNN that hadn't engaged yet rushed forward to the aid of its comrade, firing the machine gun to force Kira to back off prematurely. After a while though, it found itself dodging beams from Kagami, who had managed to disable her own GiNN with beams to the legs and the other remaining arm.

"Go get him!" Kagami yelled.

" _Right!_ " Kira confirmed, boosting to the side before closing in on the GiNN who was more than prepared for him and raised its heavy sword in preparation.

" _Go to hell!"_ the GiNN's pilot roared as it swung the sword in a horizontal arc, aiming to cut Kira's mobile suit in half at the waist. Instead, Kira parried the blow using one of the daggers and spin-kicked the GiNN in the face, wrecking the sensors.

Righting his unit, Kira acted quickly and shoved his dagger into the arm joins of the GiNN and disabled it before looking over to Kagami to see if she needed any help. It turned out the one she had engaged was now lying on the ground, its severed limbs lying all around it.

" _I think that's all of them,_ " Kira said, trying to settle his breathing. " _These mobile suits though… they're something else…_ "

"Those pilots weren't that good," Kagami muttered. "We beat them so easily…"

" _I guess,_ " Kira agreed softly. " _Anyways, we should get back with the others…_ "

" _Don't get cocky, kids,"_ Snake suddenly cut into their comms. " _You only beat them because your units far outclass theirs."_

" _Thought so…_ " Kira quietly muttered to himself, somewhat disappointed. " _Come on, Kagami, I think I'm going to need your help to carry Fubuki's unit._ "

"Kira… I don't think that's going to be enough," Kagami muttered, looking at her little sister's mobile suit which was half buried in the ground from the force at which it had hit it.

" _... Do you know a better way to wake her up?_ " Kira asked hopefully.

Kagami sucked in a deep breath. "Oi, Fubuki! If you don't wake up now I'll show Kira a collection of your bikini pictures!"

" _KAGAMI-NEE! THAT'S MEAN!"_ Fubuki's voice came through the comms almost instantly in response as the mobile suit pushed itself up on its arms. " _You know I'm embarrassed about those!"_

" _That… worked?_ " Kira questioned in shock.

"She's quite embarrassed about showing off her figure, so she only ever wears shorts and shirts into the water while swimming," Kagami grinned mischievously. "Those pictures were from when she first tried wearing a bikini to the pool."

" _STOP!"_ Fubuki yelled, the video feed from her cockpit showing her cradling her face in her hands.

Kira sighed in response, shaking his head in resignation. " _We really need to get going,_ " he reminded the pair. " _Besides, don't you want to look in on Hanami?_ "

Both the remaining sisters went completely silent. "Y-You know… all that just now was just me trying to distract myself from that, Kira…" Kagami whispered, gripping her controls so hard her knuckles went white. "But… I guess i-it didn't work out, huh…?" A few tears dropped on her lap.

" _S-sorry,_ " Kira whispered apologetically, mentally berating himself for his carelessness. " _Kagami, I'm sure Hanami's going to be alright, after all, didn't the Boss say they were going to use some kind of new treatment, just for her?_ "

"S-She'll be alright…" Kagami wiped the tears off her cheeks. "After all, what kind of t-twin would I be if I didn't have faith in her?"

" _Right, let's get the units back with the others and see about going to check in on Hanami,_ " Kira suggested. " _I'm sure she'll appreciate any support we'd give her._ "

"Thanks, Kira…" Kagami nodded, watching as the bulky unit stood up fully, before a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Where's Tolle?"

A sudden crashing was heard nearby as a crimson red mobile suit crashed against the wall. " _Goddamn thing, I wanted to go right! Not left!_ " Tolle screamed over the radio in frustration.

"Tolle… you said you'd be able to handle it, right?" Kagami had to resist the urge to giggle. She failed anyway.

" _Because I thought I could!_ " Tolle shouted in response. " _Damn thing, I should be able to at least shoot straight if I need to!_ "

" _They already dealt with all the GiNNs though,"_ Fubuki pointed out shyly, looking over the carnage Kira and Kagami had wreaked on the ZAFT mobile suits.

The Aegis seemed to slump, along with its pilot as a sigh echoed over the radio. " _Ah, man,_ " he groaned. " _Now I got to get all the way_ back _to the hanger…_ "

" _You wrecked it on your way out, kid,"_ Snake pointed out.

" _I… I did?_ " Tolle asked hesitantly. " _How? I only hit one pillar on the way out!_ "

" _You only hit the main support pillar,"_ Snake said shortly. " _You're pretty good, hotshot."_

" _Wow, Tolle,_ " Kira deadpanned. " _Just… wow… I_ really _need to update that OS. Um, Snake? Where are we meeting then? The hospital?_ "

" _Grab any equipment you need from the hangars first before you move out. There's still fighting going on outside the colony,"_ Snake ordered.

" _Right,_ " Kira agreed as he looked over the area before picking up one of the GiNN's discarded heavy rifles. " _Where did the woman say the extra equipment for the Strike was at?_ "

" _They're in Hangar Seven,"_ Snake said gruffly. " _She told me. That's a siege weapons pack in there though. The others are already onboard the carrier. I wouldn't advise using it, one missed shot and the colony goes bye bye."_

" _Right, then I'll make do with scavenged weapons for now,_ " Kira sighed after a moment of thought. " _I'm not that confident with my aim._ "

"Try hacking one of the GiNN machine guns," Kagami suggested, passing one to Fubuki...

… whose mobile suit promptly broke the trigger mechanism as it tried to hold on to it with its oversized hands.

" _Umm… Snake, could you try and contact our boss and ask him where Fubuki's unit's weapons are at?_ " Kira requested, sweat dropping a little.

On the ground, Snake let out a sigh as he looked at the panting worker, the two unconscious redcoats and the group of greencoats they had carried out from the hangar before it collapsed. "Young people these days," he muttered.

* * *

 **Outside Heliopolis**

* * *

"Damn you, Rau le Creuset!" a blond haired, blue eyed man, clad in a purple flight suit and piloting an orange mobile armor with four remote pods cursed as he exchanged fire with a white CGUE unit. "What do you hope to gain from this?"

"That would be telling, Mu la Flaga!" his opponent replied as the CGUE sprayed several shells ahead of the mobile armour. Mu jinked left and right, relying more on instinct to dodge than actually seeing the tracers - his mobile armour didn't have the best field of view.

An instinct that served him well, it seemed, as he managed to not only weave his way through the bullets, but several large pieces of debris the ZAFT soldier was trying to herd him towards.

Quickly turning he lined up a shot before firing off several salvos with his linear gun while detaching the gun pods from his Moebius Zero's hull and guided them through the attached wires to attack the CGUE from several different angles.

Rau hadn't missed the move, and quickly spun around to fire several shots at the gun pods although most of them missed. When he started taking fire, he kicked his thrusters up to maximum and flew off towards a cluster of debris from the fight earlier, using it for cover.

"You're not getting away, Rau!" Mu shouted angrily as he recalled his gun pods and darted off in pursuit. Making sure to fire off his linear gun several times to both ensure that Rau remained in that cover, and to begin destroying it.

Instead, Rau fired his machine gun through the cover he was using, raising his shield as he charged towards Mu's mobile armour with his sword drawn. The mobile armour, forced to dodge the first few shells, barely managed to get out of the way of the shield rush in time. As it was, the CGUE's sword had already torn through one of the gun pods.

Mu let out a tsking sound of annoyance as he banked his mobile armor around to make another run on the white mobile suit. ' _This is bad, they just completely blew through our resistance,_ ' he thought to himself. ' _Rau never uses brute force tactics like this, he'd always keep something in reserve, hell he sent out_ shuttles _of all things._ '

" _I'm being forced to do this by the appearance of a certain man on the colony!"_ Rau shouted, almost as if he had read Mu's thoughts. " _I suppose I must add that man to the list of people who seem to keep getting in my way!"_

Mu frowned in thought for a moment before his eyes widened. "So, even the 'mighty' Rau le Creuset is afraid of the Diamond Dogs and their leader, huh?" he asked mockingly. "Maybe we should hire him a few times!"

" _So you know of his presence on the colony too…"_ Rau seethed, trying to funnel Mu into a debris field with machine gun fire to limit his mobility. " _He's been known to fight against EA forces as well!"_

"Well, considering he doesn't really kill in his deployments, I find myself not caring as much as you," Mu countered as he hit the Moebius Zero's afterburner for a short period to launch himself clear of the debris field, launching some missiles from his still attached gun pods as he swung around towards Rau. "What I find interesting is how much you seem to almost… _fear_ him, like he's fucking something up just by existing!"

" _I'm not the one that's scared to death of him, it's those cowards in the Council,"_ Rau growled, tracking the path Mu was taking through the debris field easily and spraying shells at him. " _Just because the man has taken down a mobile suit on foot."_

"Well it is a rather impressive feat," Mu smirked as he jinked around the shells and returned fire. "It's been getting our commandos chomping at the bit to replicate it!"

Rau just growled again as he raised his shield to deflect some of the gunfire. All the while he had never lowered his machine gun.

Mu's instinct flared as he pulled out of his charge, just in time to dodge a burst of automatic fire that would have ripped the Moebius Zero to shreds and switched his tactics to deploying his remaining three gun pods to rain fire down on the mobile suit. "What's the matter Rau?" Mu taunted. "Does the thought of the feared Alliance Commandos actually learning how to take out a mobile suit on foot send a shiver down your spine?"

" _No, those commandos barely have the brains to handle a pack of C6 without blowing themselves up!"_ Rau fired back both verbally and physically, a pinpoint shot to one of the gun pods destroying it instantly as he took cover behind his shield.

Mu scowled at the loss of another gun pod before retracting the other two, using their thrusters to augment his primary thruster as he began circling Rau again, looking for any hole or weakness to exploit.

Rau was about to squeeze the trigger again when he noticed an orange blur exit from the colony. He frowned as he zoomed in on it and caught a literally disarmed orange GiNN on camera. " _Miguel was forced to retreat?"_

"Looks like all isn't going as planned, now is it?" Mu mocked. "I wonder how many of your men are dead or captured, huh?"

" _Tch, it seems I'll have to do the job myself!"_ Rau growled, orienting his CGUE to point at the colony entrance and ramping the throttle up to maximum. " _We'll continue this sometime else, La Flaga!"_

"Dammit, get back here Creuset!" Mu cursed as he pushed the throttle forward, his thrusters ramping up to full power to dive in after the CGUE.

* * *

 **Hospital**

* * *

"This is the one, right?" Kira asked worriedly as the mobile suits closed in on the large, white-painted building.

" _According to Big Boss, yeah…"_ Tolle studied the sign on the wall outside the hospital stating its name. " _Hanami's in the emergency room here, he said his men told him."_

Kagami and Fubuki were completely silent in their cockpits, both of them shaking in some way or another at the thought of their sister in the operating room.

"Come on," Kira said as he stopped his unit outside of the hospital. "Let's go see your sister, I'm sure she's completely fine."

" _I sure hope she is…"_ Mir was trembling slightly inside the Aegis' cockpit.

"H-Hanami…" Kuzzey whispered from beside Kira.

" _Code Talker is the world's leading expert on this operation. Your sister will be fine,"_ Snake assured, riding on the Strike's right hand together with the worker and the two still-unconscious redcoats. He paused for a moment before continuing, " _But I must ask for her to come with me afterwards. The operation has some… side effects that she'll need to get used to."_

"What kind of side effects?" Kira asked in concern, his brow creasing with worry for his friend.

Snake sucked in a deep breath. " _If the operation is a success, she'll be breathing through her skin and gaining energy from photosynthesis instead of eating like a regular human. That means she'll no longer be able to cover too much of her skin if she wants to survive."_

"Oh…" the group responded, before realization dawned on them. "Hanami is… _really_ self concious about her body…" Sai commented from behind Kira. "She doesn't like exposing much of herself…"

" _I gathered as much,"_ Snake grunted. " _Quiet had the same treatment once before."_

" _B-But she'll be alright, right?"_ Fubuki asked, her Ariete stopping slightly further away out of consideration for its weight potentially shaking the hospital.

" _She will be,"_ Snake affirmed as the Strike lowered its hands for the group to dismount.

The doors to the hospital opened as the group disembarked from the assorted mobile suits, revealing a tired looking Ryu who was out of the power armor. "The operation is going smoothly," he told them. "Hanami's body is accepting the parasites and Code Talker is sure that she will make a full recovery."

"P-P-Parasites!?" Fubuki gasped, staring at Ryu incredulously.

"Aren't those supposed to be dangerous things?" Kagami glared at him too.

Ryu shook his head. "These ones are… special," he told them. "And were the best chance for saving her."

"More accurately they'd be called symbiotes," Snake stepped up beside Ryu. "Seems like all the staff and patients already evacuated," he noted as he analyzed the silent state of the hospital.

Ryu nodded. "Hospitals are given priority evacuation," he informed, tiredly rubbing at his eyes. "Good thing too because the damage is bad all over…"

"C-Can we see Hanami-nee?" Fubuki asked worriedly, still not quite reassured by the two.

Ryu nodded. "They're still operating, minor things at this point, but there is an observation deck," he said in confirmation. "Once they move her out of the OR then you can go up to her."

"S-Sir! You have to see this!" one of the Diamond Dogs soldiers came rushing out of the hospital.

Ryu and Snake turned to the soldier as he came rushing out. "What is it?" Ryu asked tiredly. "It better be important."

"S-She's recovering much faster than expected! Her original skin colour's already back! Code Talker says that it might be because she's a Coordinator…" the soldier hurriedly explained.

Ryu blinked in surprise. "Follow me," he ordered the students as he rushed back into the hospital. "I just looked in on her not even five minutes ago, she was nowhere near that stage!"

"Like I said, it's much faster than expected!" the soldier repeated. "Even Code Talker's amazed!"

The other students heaved sighs of relief as they followed closely behind, having some slight trouble keeping pace with the much fitter soldiers. Kagami exchanged a cheerful grin with Fubuki.

"Can it be a mutation of some kind? But she hasn't been exposed to any kind of radiation…" Snake mused.

"Have the medical team remove a sample of the parasite now on Hanami," Ryu ordered the soldier, his mind running through the possibilities. "I want to look into this myself."

Even as they came up to the operating room, Code Talker was staring at a monitor inside the monitoring room and shaking his head. "I know what you are thinking. I checked… it is no mutation. The parasites are exactly the same, but her… status as a Coordinator is increasing the growth rate of the parasites dramatically…"

Ryu's eyes narrowed as he moved over to the monitors and began adjusting the screens, calling up Hanami's status. "This is definitely odd," he murmured. "Even factoring in the average healing rate of a Coordinator with that of a parasite host… it shouldn't be _this_ high, plus, the scans on her muscles, vital and minor organs, even the nervous system, there shouldn't be this much of an increase in both their function and durability…"

The students peeked into the room and happened to catch a glance of the view from one of the cameras overlooking the operating room. The soldier was right, Hanami had already gotten her healthy skin colour back. Even her hair was regrowing rapidly, although it was getting much longer than how she had it previously.

But something about that image had the guys of the group captivated…

"H-Huge…" Tolle murmured, his eyes glued to two certain somethings.

"Tolle, stop staring at her!" Mir shouted in the defense of her unconscious, and completely naked, friend as she stepped in front of him to block his view. "You already have a girlfriend!"

Kira was averting his eyes, a massive blush on his face after catching an eyeful of soft, bared globes of flesh.

"Hanami-nee…" Fubuki breathed another sigh of relief, a little more concerned with her sister's safety than her voyeuristic male friends.

"At this rate of healing… she should be completely healed within two hours at most," Ryu breathed. "This… this is beyond healing, this is... _regeneration!_ "

"No… the parasites are simply growing too fast…" Code Talker corrected. "A… Coordinator she may be… but even her normal regeneration is not this fast… As they grow, the parasite replaces her damaged… organs… which make it appear to be regeneration…"

"But how can they do this so quickly?" Ryu asked in confusion. "Even if they are able to rebuild them, where are they getting the needed materials for it, are they taking her own cells and forcing division, using their own, is there a limit?"

"Normally it would be using the nutrient agar… providing the nutrients to… accelerate growth," Code Talker explained. "Beyond that, the host's own body… will provide the required… nourishment. The only explanation I can think of… is that her own body is exceptionally… fertile."

Ryu rubbed his forehead as he processed the information. "This is freaking nuts," he muttered to himself. "Is _everything_ over there as messed up as this?"

"Err… what does that mean?" Tolle muttered, his eyes being covered by Mir's hands.

"It means… she is producing enough milk to nourish large numbers of the parasites…" Code Talker added, not quite having the reservations the others did about talking about the subject matter.

Mir shifted her hands to cover Tolle's ears a bit too late. The other guys' jaws hung agape. Kagami let out a bark of laughter. Fubuki ducked her head in shame.

"Wait… she's _what!?_ " Ryu asked incredulously. "But… _how_? Did the parasites cause it? Does _Quiet_ do that? This makes no sense!"

"Have you… ever wondered why only the female Skulls on the Quarantine Platform… retained some semblance of sanity…?" Code Talker asked. "In the absence… of a… proper source of nutrients… the parasites will parasitize the brain… causing irreparable brain damage…"

Ryu rubbed at his eyes as he let out a deep sigh. "Is she going to have the same issues as them?" he questioned.

"No," Code Talker shook his head. "Quiet's strain… has a stronger preference for lactose compared to the Skulls' version. The girl… will have the same abilities as her, as well… as the same weaknesses."

Ryu nodded in understanding. "Um… weaknesses?" Kira asked in concern, the two other Yukikaze sisters showing the same concern.

"Unable to wear fully covering clothing as she breathes through her skin, salt water will burn her," Ryu listed off. "Missing anything?"

"Correct," Code Talker nodded.

"It's going to be a long road for her as she adjusts to the changes," Ryu to the others. "And all of you are going to have to help her."

"Of course we're helping her!" Kagami agreed wholeheartedly.

Kira and the others nodded in agreement as they had a resolute look on their faces. "She's our friend," Kira informed bluntly. "We'll always help her."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **AstralXYZ:** That's the first part of the siege of Heliopolis done! And yes, I'm officially bumping this story up to an M-rating. I still haven't quite decided if there'll be lemons in this fanfic yet, but the chances are quite high with Ryu here. Rest assured, there'll be more things coming in from some of the previous MGS games as well, not just The Phantom Pain. Exactly what… I won't be telling. You'll have to wait and see. ;)

 **DragonKnightRyu** : Yeah… it's not like I _plan_ for every fic I touch to become a Lemon fic… heck there are some that are not, I blame some of the other co-authors for it… sometimes…

 **AstralXYZ:** Eh, we'll see how this goes in the future. Just be prepared - there'll be lemon warning signs for those who want to skip them later on.

* * *

 **Review Replies:**

Since there are so many reviews coming in at once, we'll only reply to those that have questions in them.

 **MEleeSmasher,** there is no sense in reactivating a combat unit that can't think, that can't be controlled. The Skulls will be mentioned in this fic, but they won't be seeing any combat. As for recruiting from enemy ranks and the ship… we already have plans for those, but we're not disclosing them.

 **RoyalTwinFangs,** unfortunately no, we're not taking OCs.

 **readerofgoodfanfiction,** no, there are no boxtrolls in this fic. Only Men In Boxes.

 **Guest No.2 (I have no idea who you are),** Ocelot is stuck back in the MGS world so he won't see any action in this story. There are other people who have been trained by Ocelot and will be playing his role instead.

 **Sajuuk,** we're… not entirely sure how to reply to you. All decisions we make in this story, we make with balance in mind - it's not going to be as fun to write if the good guys are winning too easily. And no, there are no longer any surviving examples of the vocal cord parasites. Not that Diamond Dogs would weaponize it again anyway.

 **Guest No.3,** at this time of posting we have chapter 3 halfway done. We've stated this before, we'll be keeping one chapter in reserve while we work on the one after it. This is so that we can go back to the chapter and make any necessary corrections. Please bear with us, we don't want to rush this fanfic.


	4. Chapter 3: The Storm's End

**Disclaimer: We own neither the Metal Gear Solid nor the Gundam franchises, though I do wish I could write stories like Kojima can. Also, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a Hideo Kojima game!**

 **Co-written with DragonKnightRyu**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: The Storm's End**

* * *

 **Hospital**

* * *

"Munyaaaa…"

A yawn and a flip to the side. Her left arm encountered a steel bar - probably her bedframe. Her right… encountered soft, bared flesh. That was odd. Only now also, she was noticing that she felt drafts almost all over her body. Which was also odd. She didn't remember undressing.

Hell, she barely even remembered anything…

… except for getting shot…

… and falling off a mobile suit…

… into a raging inferno…

…

"UGYAAAAA!" Hanami shot upright, panting wildly as she looked around and took in her surroundings. It took her a while to adjust to the bright lights around her, before she realized she was in some kind of hospital emergency room, and… something didn't quite feel right with her body. She patted herself down, but there didn't seem to be anything abnormal, although she did feel… lighter than usual.

Wait, that wasn't right. There should have been something abnormal like charred skin or something considering what she had been through...

"Am I dead?" she whispered to herself as she scanned the room in front of her for any signs of human life.

"Far from it, Miss Yukikaze," a feminine voice stated as a woman with her brown hair in a bobcut clad in a black combat suit under a white doctor's coat walked into view. "Although it was a close thing, can you lie back down please? I just need to run a few more tests."

"W-What happened…?" Hanami whispered with a furious blush, covering her bare chest with an arm as she reclined back onto the bed.

"You were badly injured in the fire, and not just from the gunshot you received," the female doctor told her as she scanned Hanami with her iDroid's bioscanner - a unique function available to the medical personnel of Diamond Dogs only. "Unfortunately, we had to use… _extreme_ measures to ensure your survival. Take a deep breath please."

Hanami nodded and sucked in a breath.

The doctor nodded in response. "Alright, there don't seem to be any issues with the bonding," she confirmed, looking off to the side. "Do you want to take it from here, Code Talker? You're far more knowledgeable about them than I am."

An old man in a wheelchair pushed himself into the room, causing Hanami to almost pass out again from shock at being seen in her current state by a male. "I am sure you have… many questions… Hanami." he spoke up, oblivious to her discomfort.

Hanami didn't quite wait for him to continue as she pulled the sheets off the bed she was lying on and wrapped them around herself in a surprising show of strength and speed. However, almost as soon as she did that, her vision began to swim and she slipped off the bed.

The doctor reacted quickly as she caught Hanami before she hit the floor. "Easy now," she soothed as she lifted Hanami back up onto the bed and unwrapped her makeshift clothing. "They're still bonding with you, you need to remain still for a bit longer."

"Your condition… necessitated a unique form of treatment…" Code Talker continued after the disoriented Hanami was back on the bed and uncovered just enough to protect her modesty. "We have… introduced parasites to your body… to help you recover quickly."

"P-Parasites…?" Hanami gasped, almost repeating her feat from earlier, only for the medic to hold her arms tightly at her sides.

"Yes… parasites. I must add that they are more… symbiotic in nature compared to the ones you are thinking of…" Code Talker explained. "In exchange for… nourishment… they will heal you and endow you with superhuman… abilities…"

Hanami's eyes widened in shock.

"They will also breathe for you," the medic informed softly, trying to soothe Hanami. "Which is why you suddenly became dizzy when you wrapped your body up. It's like holding your breath for a long period of time."

"If you cover… too much of yourself… you will suffer from oxygen deprivation…" Code Talker added. "The parasites… have replaced your skin and your… damaged organs."

"W-W-What…?" Hanami gasped.

"Hanami, when I said you nearly died, you were on death's door when you reached the OR," the medic informed, pulling a picture from her lab coat and showing it to Hanami. "Your entire body was covered in third degree burns. Your organs were a mess. It was everything we could do to keep you alive while the parasites fixed you."

Hanami studied the photo for barely a second before she spun around and began dry heaving.

"It's alright," the medic soothed as she rubbed Hanami's back gently. "You're alive now, Miss Yukikaze. That's the most important thing of all."

"W-Why…?" she croaked, trying to force the photo out of her mind - that wasn't her, she couldn't accept that!

"The fire was a fuel fire," the medic explained. "It was very intense, and the minute you fell in there… well, it's a good thing Rising Dragon reacted when he did."

"Rising… Dragon…?" Hanami rolled the words off her tongue before she remembered Snake calling her new boss by that name. "H-H-Hisanaga-sensei!?"

The medic nodded. "From the black box records I pulled from the Oni, the flames were reaching 2,000 degrees celsius," she explained. "Those kinds of flames would have killed you had he acted even a second slower, not that he believes me…"

Hanami cradled her arm, noting that despite what the old man had mentioned, it really did feel like her own skin and not a mass of… gross creepy crawlies. At the very least she could take some kind of relief in that.

"Being a… Coordinator… also helped you survive long enough… to undergo parasite therapy," Code Talker nodded. "You were very lucky… young one…"

"We weren't expecting you to wake up until tomorrow morning, at the very least," the medic informed. "Do you have any questions, Miss Yukikaze?"

"W-What kind of superhuman abilities d-did I get…?" Hanami raised her hand cautiously.

Quiet blurred into existence beside her, causing Hanami to spring off her bed in shock.

"Well, you have camouflage abilities like Quiet here," the medic indicated the sniper, apparently completely nonplussed by her sudden appearance. "Your vision will be capable of picking out the blades of a helicopter while in motion, move at nearly… 100 kph, and that's the low end of the spectrum."

Quiet nodded.

Hanami realized she was right - her eyes were picking up everything in the room in the tiniest detail possible - she could even see the hairline cracks in the wall clean across the room that had most likely occurred from the fighting earlier. And she also felt a lot stronger overall…

"B-But… I can't wear any c-c-clothes, right?" Hanami blushed at the thought.

"Well, it'll be limited how much you can wear," the medic informed. "Do you think you can give her a quick outline, Quiet? You'd know better than I."

"This is the most you can wear," Quiet indicated her current attire - she was still in her sleeveless jacket, low-cut blouse and hot pants from earlier, though there were rips and tears here and there where she had taken fire.

Hanami nearly fainted.

The medic rolled her eyes at Quiet's brief explanation. "Also, you will absorb water through your skin thanks to the parasites," she explained. "But salt water _will_ burn you so do be careful around the ocean."

Hanami sagged - she had been looking forward to going to the seaside with her classmates. "A-Alright…" she whispered softly, wrapping the sheet around herself. When her vision began to blur again, she caught herself and tossed it clean away from herself…

… at the same time the door opened once again and her classmates, who had apparently been eavesdropping, fell into a pile in the doorway.

The medic's palm met her forehead as Hanami froze, her face, neck and upper chest beginning to turn red. "I said..." the medic began slowly. "… to stay _out of this room until_ _ **you were cleared from entry**_ _!_ " she roared angrily. "Family can stay, everyone else… _**out!**_ "

"Ah…" Tolle stared, transfixed on two softly bouncing globes of flesh.

Kuzzey's gaze was stuck on her hips.

Kira was hightailing it away from the doorway.

Mir was torn between enviously staring at Hanami and blocking Tolle's view.

Kagami and Fubuki just rushed into the room, holding onto their sister's hands.

Cagalli was leaning against the wall outside, sighing.

A clicking sound was heard as the medic pulled out a handgun and primed it. "I SAID OUT!" she roared at the students as she brandished her weapon at them.

"KYAAAA!" Hanami beat the medic to the punch quite literally as she _hurled_ her bed at the doorway. It slammed into the wall beside the door, only just barely missing the teens standing there as it broke apart into a mess of steel bars and fluff _and_ put a huge dent in the wall, cracking it on the other side.

"A-Ah…" Tolle's gaze had shifted to the wrecked bed, and his eyebrow was twitching.

"RUN AWAY!" Kuzzey screamed in fear as he took off in a dash that would make a track star proud.

Mir grabbed onto Tolle's ear and dragged him off forcefully. "Do you have a death wish or something, you idiot!?" she scolded.

"OWOWOWOWOWOW!"

"Sorry!" Cagalli called apologetically out from the doorway as she trailed after the couple.

"Stupid kids and their hormones," the medic grumbled angrily as she stashed her side arm away. "So, you can see just how strong you are now," she addressed Hanami, switching back to her calmer state of being. "Did you get the needed clothes, Quiet?"

Quiet nodded, holding out… a white bikini towards Hanami.

Hanami stared at the piece of clothing with a scandalized look on her face.

"You're only combat effective with this little," Quiet explained. "My current clothing still limits my combat effectiveness."

The medic grimaced slightly. "I don't think she's planning on fighting anytime soon, Quiet,"

Quiet shot the medic a hard look. "This is a battlefield, she has no choice," she said.

The medic returned the look with one of her own as she folded her arms across her chest. "And I have yet to discharge her from my care," she retorted. "Plus, she still needs to get used to her abilities and learn how to use them, it's not like she had extensive combat training like you before yours were implanted."

"I'm the only one who can teach her," Quiet pointed out.

The medic growled at the sniper. "She nearly died Quiet, she is _not_ ready to return to combat, if at all!" she nearly shouted. "I have yet to even give her a psych exam to ensure she's not suffering from PTSD or anything!"

"I'm not asking her to return to combat, Chameleon." Quiet argued. "At the very least she needs to be able to escape from the enemy, and they could come anytime."

"Then teach her that," Chameleon said in a low tone. "But I don't want her fighting until _I_ clear her, understood?"

Quiet nodded again, still holding out the bikini towards a very red-faced Hanami.

"It's better than going naked at this point," Chameleon told the girl. "Plus, you can experiment on your own later on."

"I'm sure it'll look good on you, Hanami!" Kagami threw in her own two cents, accepting the bikini and holding it up in front of her twin sister.

"It'll be better than flashing everyone everything, right, Hanami-nee?" Fubuki added.

Hanami stared at the offending article of clothing for several more moments before snatching it out of Kagami's hand and unclasping the strap, pulling it snug around her chest and clasping it again, before pulling on the lower part.

"I-It's a little t-tight…" she muttered as she pulled her hair out from the strap, noting how long it had gotten - it fell to her knees now where it had stopped at her waist before.

The medic stared at Hanami before sighing with a mutter of something under her breath. "Right, I suppose we could go to your place of residence and get you some properly fitting clothing," she stated. "But that will have to wait until things settle down."

"Uuuuuu…" Hanami whimpered as she ducked behind Kagami. Her skin abruptly began to disappear, exposing the muscle beneath momentarily before that too began to go invisible. Within moments she was completely gone from the visual spectrum.

"H-Hanami-nee!?" Fubuki exclaimed in surprise.

"I see you figured out how to activate your camouflage abilities," Chameleon commented. "Is it normally this quick, Code Talker?"

Code Talker shook his head. "The parasites… are showing incredibly rapid growth…" he muttered.

"W-What? What h-happened?" Hanami's disembodied voice rang out from somewhere in the room.

"You're invisible," Chameleon informed with a small smirk.

"Eh? EEEEEEEH!?" Hanami shrieked, still invisible.

"The Parasite is capable of changing your pigmentation to perfectly match that of your surroundings," Chameleon explained. "Although from what I've seen, if you move at high speed that ability is compromised slightly."

Quiet reached out and grabbed hold of the open space beside her. A second later, Hanami began fading back into visibility, still looking surprised as she looked herself over.

"That was cool," Kagami muttered in awe.

The intercom nearby beeped to life. "Chameleon here," the medic responded as she hit the respond button.

" _This is Hisanaga,_ " Ryu's voice filtered in. " _We have a mobile suit entering the colony through the main shaft, and the remaining units are starting to regroup, can Hanami be moved at this point?_ "

"Yes, she can," Chameleon confirmed, looking over to Hanami.

" _Then get her and the rest of the students to the lower levels. We're also going to need Quiet up here, we need to intercept the enemy units before they try and steal the remaining units,_ " Ryu explained.

Quiet was already heading towards the exit of the emergency room. "Hanami, with power comes responsibility. Use your new strength wisely," she advised as she stepped out of view.

The blue-eyed silverette clutched her hand to her chest softly. Things were moving too fast for her to follow… she wasn't sure what she was supposed to think at all. She had survived what was supposed to have been a fatal injury, and then now she was… superhuman…

"Putting all that aside… I'M GLAD YOU'RE ALRIGHT, HANAMIIII!" Kagami suddenly wrapped her arms around her twin, tears freely flowing from her eyes.

Hanami lifted up a hand, hesitating for a moment before wrapping it around Kagami's back. "Y-Yeah…" she whispered.

"Don't scare us like that, Hanami-nee!" Fubuki shouted, sobbing as well. "W-We thought you were dead when you fell into the fire…"

Chameleon smiled gently as she stepped back, giving the sisters a moment to themselves. They at least deserved it after all the chaos they had been through.

* * *

 **Vesalius**

* * *

Several dark gray mobile suits flew into the hangar and floated into the empty cradles waiting for them. The holding clamps didn't fit just right - they were designed for GiNNs and CGUEs with their curved armour plating after all, but at least they secured the mobile suits tight enough for transport. The cockpit hatches opened up, allowing Yzak, Dearka and Nicol to exit their stolen units even as the maintenance crew flocked towards them.

"Athrun and Rusty aren't back yet?" Nicol frowned, scanning the hangar for the Aegis and Strike.

"He and Rusty must've run into some trouble," Dearka commented with a shrug. "These things happen on these kinds of missions."

"Hmph, there's no way they'd fail this mission anyway. Not when we're up against a bunch of idiot Naturals," Yzak folded his arms proudly. "Let's wait for them."

"Those 'idiot Naturals' are armed with automatic weapons, of the small and heavy variety and have a group of mercenaries whose boss make the Commander nervous," Nicol pointed out. "And they are armed with sub-machine guns."

"Hmph," Yzak simply snorted as he headed towards the ready room.

Nicol sighed in response. "I'm afraid Yzak's going to get himself killed from his arrogance," he stated as he shook his head. "Because there's looking down on somebody, then there's idiocy."

"It'll be fine, it'll be fine," Dearka smirked. "Athrun and Rusty won't lose to anyone."

* * *

 **Heliopolis Main Shaft**

* * *

"Hold it right there, Le Creuset!" Mu growled as his Moebius Zero pursued his adversary's white CGUE through the shaft, weaving between support beams on almost pure instinct alone. Most Moebius pilots wouldn't have dared to bring their units into an environment like this, he idly reflected.

" _Oh, but I already am!"_ Rau shot back as the CGUE abruptly stopped, causing Mu to overshoot.

The orange mobile armour pilot cursed as he expertly manipulated his control stick and began dodging machine gun fire with very little room to spare, often leaving gaps of mere millimetres between his mobile armour's outer fuselage and the bullets. Or the wall of the shaft or support pillars. Both were equally dangerous to him at this point.

Sweat beaded on the mobile armor pilot's head as he moved through the shaft, looking for an open spot to try and get back behind the mobile suit and retake the advantage. ' _Damn, we're getting closer to the colony interior…'_ he mentally cursed as he swore he just lost some paint from a particularly close call with the support pillar.

Rau seized the chance to direct some of his fire towards the wall of the shaft instead, blasting open a hole in it. He smirked and dove through it into the colony proper, his sensors quickly picking up the signatures of several mobile suits arranged around a… hospital. It seemed the people who had taken the remaining prototypes had taken a casualty or two. He knew they wouldn't stay inactive for long, however.

"Dammit!" Mu cursed as he pulled a potentially suicidal U-turn, lightly clipping his mobile armor against a support beam before darting out the hole Rau made. "Get back here you bastard!"

Rau ignored the railgun round that flew past him, opting to head towards the inactive mobile suits arranged around the hospital. " _Let's see how you fare, pilots of the prototypes…"_ he muttered, even as he issued a signal. Several GiNNs chose that moment to appear from hiding in various places in the colony, mainly fresh ones that had snuck in after the first wave had retreated.

The attack didn't go unnoticed, although Rau had to admit his curiosity as to the response as what looked to be a miniature mobile suit that was armed with several weapons that immediately opened fire upon him, along with most shockingly, a beam.

Rau raised his shield and batted the beam aside - it had been too weak to do any major damage, but he noted that it had still left a good-sized burn on the shield. If that had hit any weak points in the armour… he narrowed his eyes. The pilot of that mini mobile suit was either good or suicidal.

* * *

 **On the ground**

* * *

"This is Rising Dragon, I have their attention," Ryu reported as he fired up the thrusters and began moving away from the units, firing a barrage of missiles at the GiNNs to get their attention. "I hope your boys are ready, Snake."

" _There's little more we can do other than distract them and piss them off,"_ Snake pointed out. " _Even with an Oni."_

Ryu gritted his teeth in anger. "I am _not_ getting those kids involved,"

" _I want those kids involved as much as you do, but we simply don't have a choice,"_ Snake grunted. " _If we don't get them involved, we're not going to make it out of this alive."_

"They nearly lost one of their own…" Ryu ground out, berating himself more than anything. "All because I got them involved."

" _If you don't get them involved now, they're going to lose a lot more,"_ Snake reasoned.

Ryu set his lips into a grim line. "Fine, get the ones who are willing to fight," he said in a defeated tone. "Haumea help me."

* * *

 **Hospital**

* * *

"Hey, hey, isn't that a bit too much for us to chew on…?" one of the soldiers outside could be heard murmuring.

"That's 8 more GiNNs out there! Where were they hiding?" someone else cursed.

"That doesn't sound good…" Kira frowned.

Tolle and Kuzzey were still somewhat out of it trying to commit the view of a completely naked Hanami to long term memory.

"Hey… guys," Kira called out, breaking Tolle and Kuzzey's focus and brought everyone's attention to him. "I think we should help them."

"B-But they told us to go to the lower levels and wait, right?" Kuzzey asked, more than a little rattled by the fighting.

"Yeah, they did," Tolle agreed. "But… it's like what, a dozen guys, a power armor against _how_ many mobile suits?"

"Our mobile suits are better than theirs though…" Kagami muttered, looking back where they had come from. "You sensed that too, didn't you, Kira, Fubuki, Tolle? They far outclass any GiNN in one-on-one combat… we're just not using them properly yet."

"Even with us not using them properly, we still were able to beat them rather easily…" Kira pointed out.

"And… we can't just let them trample over our colony, right?" Kagami said resolutely, tightening her fist and slamming it into the wall beside her. "It's our home!"

The others nodded. "I suppose I could act like a turret or something," Tolle commented, scratching the back of his head. "Can't do much else unfortunately."

"If only we could get a better pilot in the Aegis…" Cagalli mused.

"It's not like we can get one of the ZAFT pilots to fight for us," Mir sighed as she looked over at Tolle.

Cagalli shot a glare at the two ZAFT soldiers lying unconscious on the ground nearby, having been moved over as well.

"Hey, hey, I know I suck… you don't need to rub it in…" Tolle muttered in a depressed tone.

"So… should we go?" Kira asked the other three who piloted the mobile suits.

"Yeah, we should," Fubuki nodded firmly.

Kira nodded as he moved to the door, trying to settle his nerves. "We're really about to do this, aren't we?" he whispered quietly. "To fight…"

"It's all to protect our home, Kira-san…" Fubuki sighed. "Right now we're the only ones who can do it."

They pushed open the hospital doors to be greeted by the sight of GiNNs getting awfully close to the hospital, and a bunch of panicking Diamond Dogs soldiers running around looking for heavy weapons. Ignoring the chaos, the teens headed towards their mobile suits at a quick pace. An Oni approached the hospital, the pilot letting out a groan as he saw them climbing onto the ascent lines and getting back into their units.

* * *

 **Back with Ryu**

* * *

In the distance all of the mobile suits on their side came to life and turned around to face the incoming GiNNs with whatever weapons they had. The giant one - the Ariete was armed with a massive rifle they had picked up from one of the hangars.

" _They got in the moment they heard we were outnumbered,"_ Snake sighed. " _I'll give them that, those kids have guts."_

Ryu swallowed as he closed his eyes and took a soothing breath. "Right, have them target the GiNNs first," he said as he scanned the area. "Avoid firing on the orange mobile armor, looks like a friendly for now."

" _Right!"_ the students chorused over the comms, even as beams lanced out from their rifles heading towards the incoming GiNNs. They ZAFT mobile suits quickly scattered to avoid taking too much damage, even as the white CGUE closed in towards Ryu with the mobile armour in hot pursuit.

The CGUE was still ignoring the mobile armour despite the railgun rounds flying around it. Instead, it pointed its machine gun in Ryu's direction and sprayed a few rounds ahead of him, kicking up dust and debris in his path. All that really did was help conceal him as he ducked around a hangar and blinked in surprise upon seeing four of the Diamond Dogs soldiers grouped there, two equipped with long poles and one with an elastic band.

"Come on, we can't let those kids steal all the fun!" one of them shouted as the group got into formation, the poles off to either side of the other two even as the soldier with the elastic band attached it to both of them. The final soldier was positioned ahead of the band…

"ULTIMATE CO-OP WEAPON! HUMAN SLINGSHOT!" all four of them roared in unison upon finishing their preparations.

"Wait… what are they doing?" Ryu questioned in confusion as he saw one of them pull the man sitting on the band back.

"MASH THE R BUTTON DAMMIT, OX!" the guy sitting on the band yelled out, apparently at the guy pulling the band backwards. "I WANT A LEVEL 3 CHARGE!"

"MASHING IT!" the puller shouted back, digging his heels in and drawing the band further back with some visible effort.

"MASH IT FASTER! THEY'RE GOING TO PASS US!" the bullet yelled, apparently aiming through his binoculars at one of the GiNNs. "AIM TO THE LEFT!"

With more grunts of exertion, the two guys holding the poles moved slightly counterclockwise.

"No… they couldn't possibly be-" Ryu started, his eyes widening only to get cut off as they apparently were ready.

"FIRE!" the bullet shouted.

The soldier manning the band let go and fell backwards even as the bullet shot through the air at speeds that shouldn't have been possible for a human launched from a slingshot to achieve, even saluting in mid-air with his left hand, his right extended in a strange Superman pose as he shot towards their target GiNN.

Said GiNN suddenly lost a huge chunk of its right shoulder, and arm along with it as fireworks exploded to life around the area where the human bullet had connected with its armour. The living projectile somehow bounced back towards the group, skidding along the ground for several metres until he came to a halt back in the middle of the formation, metaphorical stars spinning around his head.

"HOW IN HAUMEA'S NAME DID HE SURVIVE THAT!?" Ryu questioned desperately, his eyes wide in shock.

One of the conscious soldiers quickly roused the bullet, who shot back upright with barely any signs of damage whatsoever. "LET'S DO IT AGAIN!" he roared enthusiastically, getting back into position.

"Wait, I see Tin Man!" one of the other soldiers pointed out the presence of Ryu in the Oni staring at them dumbly.

"Tin Man! Want to be the bullet?" the previous bullet grinned, getting out of formation and jerking a thumb back at the human slingshot. "I'm sure you can do a lot more damage to those GiNNs than we can!"

"Snake… please tell me you have a logical explanation for this," Ryu pleaded over the radio.

" _I saw the fireworks, Tin Man,"_ Snake grunted. " _They do that sometimes. It's a secret technique passed down from the old days of Militaires Sans Frontieres."_

"I… I need to go shoot something," Ryu groaned as he lifted off the ground. "And pray that this is just a hallucination."

"Tin Man, don't want to try it out?" the bullet asked, looking back at the slingshot. "It's a very damaging technique!"

"No," Ryu stated bluntly. " _I_ still have my sanity thank you very much."

"Oh, sure," the bullet sighed, returning to his position on the band. "CHARGE IT UP AGAIN!"

"ROGER!"

Ryu shook his head as he took stock of the battlefield before focusing on the white mobile suit that seemed to have started duelling with the orange mobile armor after losing sight of him. "Snake, I'll be engaging the white mobile suit," he informed. "But first… I need to get something from my lab."

" _Make it quick,"_ Snake simply replied, even as a beam lanced out from a different part of the city and struck a GiNN in its knee joint, blowing the leg off below the knee.

"Are… you using one of the Onis?" Ryu questioned as he moved through the warehouses towards his lab.

" _Made a trip back to your workshop and dug it out,"_ Snake chuckled. " _Not bad. Not bad at all."_

"Of course it 'isn't bad'." Ryu announced as he arrived at his lab. "My work is peerless, alright? I'm at my lab and it doesn't look like anyone ransacked the place either, bonus."

" _Just that I don't think this is going to fit inside a cardboard box,"_ Snake actually sounded vaguely disappointed in that particular fact.

"It's power armor," Ryu deadpanned as he searched through his lab. "Considering I designed it for open combat, not stealth, I would need to build one from the ground up if you want a stealth model."

" _Fine, I probably won't be using this much then,"_ Snake grumbled. " _The kids are handling their machines quite well, except for that one in the… Aegis, was it?"_

"Not surprised, the Aegis was finicky in construction, let alone designing an OS for a transforming model mobile suit," Ryu explained. "Let alone for a Natural pilot."

" _He's still stumbling all over the place and missing shots every-"_ the sound of a beam vaporizing something nearby could be heard over the comms. " _HEY KID! WATCH YOUR DAMNED FIRE!"_

"At least he's distracting them, right?" Ryu questioned as he opened a particularly large container pulling out a missile launcher and attaching several spare missiles in a box to his armor. "Alright, got it, now… let's hope it actually works, I've yet to test this even in lab settings."

* * *

 **Hospital**

* * *

Hanami rested in a corner of the room, cradling her legs to her chest as she shuddered each time an explosion rocked the hospital. Thankfully none of the combatants had managed to hit it with a stray shot yet, but they were coming pretty close. She was already starting to feel quite lonely - she had heard her friends being called out to man their mobile suits earlier, and she was missing the company.

The medic that was poking her every now and then with some tool or another wasn't quite as good company.

It did get her thinking though - was she really ready to step back onto the battlefield again after suffering such a bad injury? She let out a weary sigh and scanned the room once again with her improved eyesight. Nothing had changed from earlier aside from the addition of several more cracks. She didn't quite like the idea of her friends fighting to protect all of them, while she herself did nothing…

But even if she headed out to fight, would she be able to do anything? She wasn't sure if she was ready to kill people…

She froze. She had already done that once… she recalled. When she had fired a beam through that soldier's stomach back when she had been trying to board the Exodus. She began trembling as she recalled the man's shocked face that had been staring her in the eyes as the last vestiges of his life left him…

"Miss Yukikaze?" the medic questioned, seeing Hanami beginning to panic. "What's wrong?"

"I-I-I killed someone… earlier…" she buried her face in her arm. "B-Before I was i-i-injured…"

"Ah, the first kill," Grey Chameleon said in understanding. "You're coming down from the combat rush and it's settling in, isn't it?"

Hanami nodded. "H-He had a family… right?" she whispered.

"Mm, maybe," the medic responded, settling in next to Hanami. "But… don't you have family? One that would miss you if you died?"

Hanami froze again, before nodding. "Otou-san, okaa-san… Kagami-chan… Fubuki-chan…" she listed off, trying to reassure herself. "B-But I still… k-k-killed someone…"

"Trust me, I know," Chameleon assured as she placed an arm around the shivering girl's shoulders. "However, in situations like that, it unfortunately boils down to either you kill them, or they kill you, or… even worse, they kill someone you love because you didn't act…"

Hanami looked up at Chameleon, her eyes slightly red from crying.

Chameleon gave her a wry smile. "That's the mistake I made," she admitted. "I hesitated, and my mother was killed because of it, and that regret is something that I will always carry with me."

"M-My friends… they're all out there f-fighting…" Hanami whispered.

Chameleon nodded. "They are," she affirmed. "Because they want to protect you, and this colony."

Hanami looked back down at the ground. "B-But I let them down… I-I-I didn't get to the m-mobile suit I was supposed to…" she lamented, sniffing as her tears began to flow. "I-I'm useless…"

"You did everything you could," Chameleon assured. "No one could ask for more."

Hanami sniffed again. "I-I-I don't want to drag them down, Chameleon-san…"

"You don't, Hanami," the medic assured. "You're inspiring them to fight."

"I w-want to do more than just that…" the silverette said, tightening her fists as she looked around. "But without a mobile suit…"

Chameleon bit her lip for a moment before letting out a sigh. "I shouldn't be doing this… but… as a medic my job is to get soldiers ready to fight again," she muttered, talking more to herself rather than Hanami. "Wait here, I'll be right back."

"C-Chameleon-san?" Hanami looked up as the medic got up from beside her and headed for the exit of the room.

"I'll be right back," the medic assured with a brief smile, before she disappeared from the room, and several minutes later she returned,, carrying a familiar weapon. "I shouldn't be doing this, but here, if you want to fight, you will need it."

"T-This is…" Hanami blinked as she accepted the gun. It was the same beam sniper rifle she had been using earlier - with a few burn marks over it, but it still seemed largely intact.

"It still works," Chameleon informed grimly. "Now, Hanami, I want you to focus for me, when you turned invisible, what were you feeling? I need you to bring that feeling into focus."

"I… I was feeling embarrassed and shy…" she whispered, her cheeks turning red. Almost instantly her skin faded out of view, followed quickly by her muscles beneath and even the gun as well.

"Hanami, that feeling right now, is your instinctive trigger for your invisibility ability," Chameleon explained. "If you're going out there to fight, whenever you're moving, use your ability to remain undetected."

"I-It's a little hard not to with w-what I'm wearing…" a still-invisible Hanami replied. The medic could practically sense the embarrassment emanating from the patch of apparently empty space beside her.

The medic nodded. "As you grow more accustomed to your powers, you will be able to draw on them instinctively rather than an emotional trigger," she explained. "At least, that's what my understanding of the parasites is."

"T-Then… I'll be going now… T-Thank you C-Chameleon-san…" Hanami whispered shyly. The medic could see the door leading into the room open and close again.

"I hope I made the right choice…" the medic sighed to herself as she leaned against a wall, rubbing her head.

* * *

 **With Mu**

* * *

"Gah!" Mu growled as he lost another gun pod to Rau's gunfire, leaving him very poorly-equipped to fight a CGUE with a railgun and his lone remaining gun pod. Not that a Moebius Zero could fare very well against one anyway - it was a testament to his piloting skills that he was still alive and kicking.

" _EA Pilot, try and get that white mobile suit lower to the ground, near the eastern quadrant,_ " Mu leapt in his skin as a voice broke in over the radio.

"Who is this?" Mu demanded as he duelled with Rau.

" _Chief Engineer Hisanaga,_ " the voice replied. " _I have a weapon that should take the sails out of your opponent, but I need a surefire shot._ "

Seeing no other choice, Mu pushed forward on his stick, bringing his Moebius Zero into a dive and levelling out near the area indicated by the other person on the comms. Sure enough, Rau's CGUE dove after him in hot pursuit.

" _What happened to your fighting spirit, La Flaga?"_ the masked man taunted over the loudspeakers.

Unknown to the masked pilot, however, a certain engineer was waiting for him to pass overhead.

Ryu frowned in concentration, tuning out the byplay between the two pilots as he led the shot, the Oni's onboard targeting assistance helping him aim. As soon as Rau passed overhead, he pulled the trigger of the missile launcher, causing the missile to streak out heading dead on for the white mobile suit.

The white CGUE's monoeye flicked to the missile for a moment before looking away, apparently passing it off as unimportant. That proved to be a bad decision as the missile connected with its shoulder armour, exploding into an ominous brown-black cloud that clung to the machine's armour. Wherever it touched, the armour immediately began to rust over as the cloud of corrosive metallic archaea began to eat away at it.

" _What!?"_ Rau gasped, hurriedly ejecting the corroded arm before the damage could spread, and his machine gun along with it. " _What kind of warhead was that!?"_

Ryu grinned as he reloaded the missile, making sure to check to see that the archaea had deactivated after their operational time before moving to get a better position for an attack.

" _A chance!"_ the pilot of the orange mobile armour crowed as he dove in, seizing the chance while Rau was still confused to put a railgun round through his left leg, blowing it clean off at the knee. " _Yahoo!"_

Ryu chuckled as he fired another missile at Rau as he kept pace with the white mobile suit. ' _Looks like we got an excitable pilot there…_ '

Rau was a lot more cautious about the missile this time, and opted to guide it into a building instead while dodging more railgun rounds from the mobile armour. As the missile struck the building, he narrowed his eyes as he noticed the same phenomenon happening to its outer structure - the metal parts of it rusted over rapidly, almost bringing it down.

" _Not even the EA has that kind of technology…"_ he muttered.

Ryu let out a small tsking sound as he scanned the nearby area. "Quiet, you nearby?" he questioned over the Diamond Dogs radio frequency.

A buzz of static indicated that she was.

"Right, I'm going to be distracting the white unit in a moment, do what you do best, alright?" Ryu commented as he grinned.

" _Commander Le Creuset! We'll cover you!"_ two of the GiNNs broke off from the fight near the hospital and flew over towards the white CGUE.

Two bursts of static signalled a negative.

Ryu hummed in response. "That… is never good," he groaned out as he maneuvered around a building before launching another missile at one of the GiNNs from behind.

The GiNN pilot heard the missile lock warning and spun around to attempt shooting down the missile with its machine gun. All the rounds he fired missed, and the missile instead flew right into the gun's barrel. Moments later, the gun exploded into a cloud of corrosive metallic archaea, forcing him to release his useless weapon. Before it could move any further though, tungsten spikes fired from Quiet's railgun speared its thrusters and knee, forcing it to the ground.

"When opportunity knocks," Ryu muttered as his thrusters flared to life, launching the Oni into the air to land on the GiNN's shoulder. Drawing out the beam saber, the plasma blade snapped to life, seconds before it was shoved into the GiNNs primary camera, destroying it and prompting Ryu to leap back off the GiNN.

" _Gah!"_ the pilot growled, pulling the self-destruct lever inside his cockpit and popping the hatch, only to find the barrel of a gun being shoved into his face.

With that gun being attached to a menacing suit of powered armor, that was most likely quite capable of ripping him in half.

"The Mobile Suit with the storage backpack that you guys stole," the man operating the suit stated in a low growl. "Where?"

The pilot raised his hands in surrender, even as a superior smirk decorated his face - his self-destruct would definitely get his opponent like this, even if he got caught in it in the process. "Go to hell!" he spat.

He didn't even get the chance to regret the choice as the chaingun fired, ripping him to shreds, Ryu not even pausing to take in the mess before leaping off the mobile suit and getting clear of the self-destruct - he hadn't missed the smirk earlier.

Quiet had been engaging the other GiNN in the meantime - Le Creuset's white CGUE had escaped in the chaos, annoyingly enough. The GiNN was randomly spraying machine gun rounds everywhere, trying to flush the sniper out. It was working quite well - she wasn't getting in as many shots as she liked. The other problem was that it was causing a lot of collateral damage as buildings everywhere around them collapsed. The orange mobile armour was trying to distract it, but it was having difficulty dodging it with the loss of thrust from the destroyed gun pods.

"You need a distraction, Quiet?" Ryu questioned as he saw the destruction the GiNN was causing.

A beam lanced out of nowhere and tore through the GiNN's shoulder, the energy weapon succeeding in burning through where Quiet's physical shells would just bounce off. It didn't look like it had come from an Oni's beam weapon though…

"Wait, that's the beam sniper..." Ryu breathed before his eyes widened. " _HANAMI?_ "

An invisible blur blew towards him, leaving dust clouds in its wake before decloaking to show the scantily-clad silver-haired engineering student, panting slightly from exertion. "I… I couldn't just stand back and let my friends f-fight for me…" she whispered, lowering her beam sniper rifle. "W-Was it wrong?"

Ryu frowned under his helmet before he let out a deep sigh. "No… no it isn't," he admitted. "Just… just make sure you stay safe, alright? If one of you got killed…" he trailed off uncertainly.

Hanami forced a smile. "I-I'll be fine…" she nodded, looking up at the disarmed GiNN that was shooting towards where she had fired from earlier. "Y-You already saved me once… I-I-I'm not about to throw my life away j-just like that."

Ryu nodded slowly. "Alright, radio me if you need support," he told her.

"Ummm… I-I don't have one…" Hanami blushed, tapping her ear.

Ryu grimaced as he did a quick mental scan of his inventory before taking a quick look around to ensure there wasn't any snipers before taking off his helmet. "Here," he told her, taking off the one he had on. "This is my personal headset, it's already linked to the Diamond Dogs Battlenet."

"I-Is it really o-okay for me to take this?" she gingerly held her hand out.

Ryu nodded. "The Oni has an onboard comms system," he informed as he placed the earpiece into her hand. "Me having my earpiece really isn't worth it at this point."

"A-Alright…" she nodded, accepting the earpiece and studied it for a few moments before putting it on around her right ear.

Ryu nodded as he put his helmet back on, smacking it a few times to ensure it was on properly. "Alright then, get into position, this fight ain't over yet," he said as he prepared his weapons.

"Umu!" Hanami nodded as she faded from view. A dust cloud blew past him, heading towards one of the taller buildings still left standing.

' _Why is it, no matter how hard we try, soldiers keep getting younger?_ ' he questioned himself mentally as he took off himself, heading towards where the students were trying to keep the remaining GiNNs at bay. "Snake, have your boys been able to get eyes on the condition of the _Archangel_?"

" _Too top secret for my guys to get into,"_ Snake grunted.

Ryu growled. "Dammit, I was hoping to at least get it airborne to scare these assholes away," he explained as he took cover behind a building as a GiNN landed nearby. "Anyone sighted the stolen units yet?"

" _They're most likely gone by now,"_ Snake said. " _Stowed off on a ship outside the colony. I can't imagine ZAFT commencing a mission like this without at least that level of preparation."_

"Dammit, I wanted to at least get the Exodus back," Ryu growled angrily. "Hanami, do you copy?"

" _Ah… uh… h-how do I use this again?"_ he could practically feel a startled Hanami fumbling about with the earpiece. " _O-Oh… er… c-c-copy!"_

"I am taking cover behind the… Harshin Building, a mobile suit is about a block away, can you get eyes on it?" Ryu questioned patiently.

" _I-I see you!"_ came the reply from the silverette.

"Alright, I'm going to be drawing the units attention, I want you to disable it once it's focused on me, understood?" he instructed.

" _Right!"_ Hanami replied.

" _Was that Hanami-nee!?"_ Fubuki's voice came over the comms.

"She didn't want to be left behind," Ryu sighed as he explained the situation. "She'll be providing sniper support."

" _Hanami, don't push yourself too much… You're still recovering,"_ her twin advised.

" _I-I know… I won't,"_ Hanami sighed.

"Alright Hanami, I'm taking action," he informed before he surged out of cover, firing on the GiNN with the shoulder mounted missiles as he attempted to draw it further out into the open.

Having seen what the missiles the mini mobile suit fired could do to armour, the GiNN dove behind a wrecked building for cover while firing out from behind it with its machine gun. The pilot was pleasantly surprised when the missiles just blew up like normal missiles when they connected with the building, but wasn't about to push his luck as he quickly moved away. That was when a beam perforated the mobile suit's knee, causing it to trip over and slam facefirst into the ground.

Several more beams lanced out from Hanami's sniping point, scoring clean hits on the thrusters, shoulder joints and the remaining knee, completely disabling it.

"Right moving out. Hanami, go ahead and support the others," Ryu called out. "How many mobile suits left, Snake?"

* * *

 **With Snake and the other students**

* * *

"Five," Snake reported from inside his Oni, standing on top of a disabled GiNN. One of the remaining ones took a bull rush from Fubuki's Ariete, caving in the whole front of the mobile suit. "Make that four."

" _These suits really do make it too easy,_ " Kira commented. " _The GiNNs' rifles can't do anything to us._ "

Snake was a little more interested in the enemy's capabilities though. "Dragon, how many mobile suits can a Laurasia-class and a Nazca-class carry in total?" he asked. "If we disable enough of their mobile suits they won't be able to sortie again."

He could hear Ryu mutter to himself briefly as he figured it out. " _Normally I'd say a maximum of… seven to twelve mobile suits total, although they could have towed about three more each if they felt the need._ "

"We've got eight GiNNs here, and we completely disabled or destroyed…" Snake did a quick head count. "... five in the previous fight. Counting the… CGUE, was it? And the ace unit you tore a chunk out of. That's 15 mobile suits. Either they towed an extra three, or there's another ship out there we missed."

Ryu hummed in response. " _Wait one,_ " he called out. " _Accessing external Colony cameras._ "

"Let me know when you find out, we're wrapping up here. Either way I don't think they'll try again," Snake hefted his Oni-sized beam rifle and watched as Kagami's Highwind drew its beam sabers and carved another GiNN's limbs off, before stomping hard on the cockpit area to stun the pilot. "The kids are naturals at this…" he muttered.

Then a beam hit the ground beside him.

" _Except for that one,"_ he grumbled, opening a comms channel to the Aegis. " _Oi, kid, stop shooting and get out of that thing before you get one of us killed by friendly fire!"_

" _A-ah, right, sorry!_ " Tolle called out as the Aegis began to stumble away from the group. " _Dammit, this thing is so hard to control!_ "

" _Considering that he's piloting a Coordinator tuned mobile suit, I'd say the kid is talented,_ " Ryu commented over a private line.

"Either way, I want him out of that mobile suit before he hurts anyone on our side," Snake grunted, "It's hard enough fighting without the constant risk of a stray attack hitting you from behind."

" _Fair enough, I think I found the third ship, clever bastard,_ " Ryu announced. " _Opposite side of the colony, letting the other two draw our attention._ "

The remaining three GiNNs were looking decidedly intimidated by now. Having never accounted for the recovery of four units by ORB - it didn't even matter if one of them sucked at piloting, they were hemmed into a corner now as the students surrounded them with their guns pointed at them. No escape - if they even moved a hydraulic cylinder, they'd get taken out in a flash.

" _You want to do the honors, Snake?_ " Ryu called out. " _Because ORB won't have any interest in them other than crucifying them._ "

Snake shrugged, even knowing Ryu couldn't see him, and stepped forward while turning on the loudspeakers for his Oni. "Hands up," he ordered simply.

The GiNNs dropped their machine guns and swords on the ground and held up their hands.

"And don't even think about self-destructing. Step out of the cockpits where I can see you, and keep those hands up," Snake continued.

" _Did… did we just hold up a squad of mobile suits?_ " Kira asked skeptically over the radio.

" _I… think we did?"_ Kagami replied in some disbelief. " _Let me pinch myself first."_

" _WHAT!? I MISSED OUT ON THAT!?"_ Tolle yelled.

" _Impressive feat for a bunch of kids,_ " Ryu commented as he moved to rejoin the group. " _So, what now? The Homeland no doubt knows about this happening and be sending in reinforcements… but…_ "

" _The colony's still a mess…"_ Fubuki sighed, the Ariete scanning the whole area, seeing smoke and rubble everywhere. " _It's going to take a long time to get everything running again…"_

" _Yeah, but the colony is in one piece and the citizens are alive,_ " Kira pointed out. " _Buildings are easy to replace after all._ "

As the pilots finally stepped out of their GiNNs with their hands held up, Snake's Oni raised a hand with a handgun in it. In one quick movement, he shot all three of the pilots when they reached the ground on their descent lines, causing them to drop to the ground snoring. The students swore they could see Zs rising into the air and popping from the pilots' heads…

Ryu sighed as he finally joined up with the group, the powered armor cracking open and allowing him to climb out, taking off the helmet as he did so. "Looks like ZAFT is cutting their losses and pulling out," he announced. "Although it looks like the third ship might be pulling rearguard duty or something as it only moved to cover the retreat of the other two."

Quiet faded into view beside Snake's Oni quite suddenly, letting out a small groan as she stretched. Snake himself was climbing out of his Oni, letting out an appreciative 'hmm' as he studied the hand with his handgun in it before reclaiming it and sliding it back into a concealed shoulder holster inside his jacket. Hanami had also rejoined the group, poking her head out from behind Ryu's powered armour shyly.

"Are you doing alright there, Hanami?" Ryu asked in concern.

"I-I-I'm technically in p-p-public… r-right?" she whispered, still not quite daring to come out from behind the Oni.

"Technically, but considering we're the only people outside of shelters right now?" Ryu responded with a wry grin before looking over to the mobile suits. "Kagami, Fubuki, if you want to take your sister to get some clothing for her, that will be fine."

" _Wouldn't that be like… stealing?"_ Kagami pointed out. " _And I don't think we can find much for her other than bikinis with her restrictions anyway. Not that she needs anything else - she looks sexy enough in those!"_

"Uuuuuu…" Hanami whimpered, fading from view.

Ryu palmed his face. "I meant from your home," he clarified. "Plus, I don't think Hanami will do very well being invisible for the rest of her life due to embarrassment."

" _Yeah… well…"_ Fubuki trailed off, the Ariete pointing at a building in the distance with several big holes in the facade. Moments later, it collapsed in on itself. " _Our dorms were hit in the attack."_

Ryu let out an 'ah' sound. "Right, keep the tags of anything you take then, I'll reimburse the stores with the Morgenroete emergency funds," he informed as he began to rub his forehead to ward off a headache that should be arriving at any moment.

" _Can we just bill it to ZAFT?"_ Kagami sighed.

"Unfortunately, no," Ryu announced with a depressed sigh. "Man, the paperwork from all this is going to be a mess, civvies in mobile suits… firefights in the streets…"

" _So… what do we do next?"_ Kira asked. " _Given the state of this colony, we're not going to be able to live here properly for a while."_

"Emergency shelters will be set up for those who are unable to leave the colony for whatever reason as the rest will be brought back to the homeland while everything is being rebuilt, funding will be provided and lost wages reimbursed for those who live and work here," Ryu explained as he rubbed the back of his neck. "The best we can hope for is there isn't any major damage near the colony walls and support shaft."

A loud detonation was heard as the colony shook, a plume of smoke rising from the ground as a gleaming white ship rose from its hidden bunker that it just shot its way out of. ' _There's that headache,_ ' Ryu through to himself as he let out a loud groan, hiding his eyes behind his hand as the numbers for the repair costs just tripled… at least.

"That's a… warship?" Tolle exclaimed as he ran up to the group on foot, staring at the ship.

The Ariete, Highwind and Strike almost immediately readied their weapons.

"Don't shoot, that's the EA's Assault Carrier built in conjunction with the G-Weapons, the _Archangel,_ " Ryu explained as he pulled his hand away from his eyes, got back into his Oni to use the comms and changed to an open radio frequency. "EA crew, you better have a _damned_ good reason for causing an explosion so close to the colony walls."

The radio crackled for several moments before a woman's voice could be heard. " _This is Ensign Badgiruel of OMNI Enforcer. Identify yourself!"_

"This is Chief Engineer Hisanaga of Morgenroete," Ryu growled in response. "Again… I ask you: why the fuck did you use a _warship's_ main weapon to nearby blow a _hole_ in the colony?"

" _The bunker exit was blocked, the Lohengrins were the only thing that could punch a hole through,"_ the voice replied. " _Where's ZAFT?"_

"Retreating, no thanks to your little 'guard detail'," Ryu informed, giving SNake a thankful nod. "But enough of that, get your asses out of this colony, I think EA's overstayed their welcome."

The radio was silent for several moments. " _Who's piloting the remaining two G-Weapons?"_

"Morgenroete interns," Ryu answered tersely. "And I do expect OMNI to reimburse them for saving these mobile suits for you."

There was deep intake of breath from the other side. " _That's classified OMNI military equipment, Chief Engineer Hisanaga,"_ the woman hissed. " _You should know better than to let civilians pilot them!"_

"Well, considering that they are _my_ assistants and they are the ones who managed to get a halfway usable Natural-Use OS - while working with limited information, and the fact that the _colony was under attack from ZAFT,_ " the last part came out in a dangerous calm tone. "I am sure that OMNI will be willing to overlook it considering they are the reason you have _any_ mobile suits right now."

" _Regardless, military protocol must be followed in this matter,"_ the OMNI officer replied. " _I'm afraid we'll have to detain you people for a while."_

"Over my rotting corpse, Ensign," Ryu spat out angrily. "They are ORB citizens, you try and detain them, and I will straight up _murder you._ "

The radio crackled to life as another person joined the call. " _Ensign Badgiruel, this is Lieutenant Ramius. This is an order, do NOT detain these people. We owe them our lives - if not for them, this whole colony would be a chunk of so much debris by now. You can have them bring the Strike and the Aegis onboard, but the Highwind and Ariete are ORB property!"_

A truck pulled up to the group, and the brunette tech from earlier climbed out of the driver's seat holding a radio. The sleeping soldiers they had captured earlier had apparently been thrown haphazardly into the cargo bed, all tied up together already. "I'm sorry for the mess, but I'll rephrase Ensign Badgiruel's threat in a less… threatening way," she cleared her throat. "I'd like to invite you aboard the Archangel to discuss our plans for the future. Not as prisoners, but as guests."

" _L-Lieutenant! There's military protocol for this!"_ the Ensign stammered.

"I'm pulling rank here and telling you there are times to follow protocol and times not to follow it!" the woman shouted back, lowering the radio and sighing. "God, I hate having to pull rank."

"Thank you for that, Lieutenant," Ryu said with a nod. "I'd rather not get my Oni more bloody than it already is."

She eyed the sheen of the blood coating on the Oni's armour and took a half-step back. "Please rein in your violent tendencies, I'd rather not have to explain to OMNI Command if the Archangel can't make it back to Earth with too few crew," she deadpanned.

Ryu gave her a surprisingly calm smile. "Lieutenant, I only get violent when the livelihood of those I feel the need to protect is threatened," he told her bluntly. "And what do you think OMNI would do if they found out that a bunch of Coordinators were piloting their mobile suits while you had them on you ship?"

The OMNI officer let out a sigh and said, "Political shitstorm."

"Minimum," Ryu confirmed. "Just say it was Morgenroete techs who secured the last two units, save everyone the hassle."

"We kind of are, right?" Kagami grinned, walking up to her twin sister and pulling her out of her hiding spot behind Ryu's Oni.

Ryu raised an eyebrow at them. "Always," he deadpanned. "I know that and we've only known each other for a day."

"Uuuu…" Hanami whimpered, opting to hide behind Ryu once her twin had let go of her. Inadvertently, she pressed her body against his back…

Something which Ryu resolutely ignored. "Why don't you guys take the jeep and get some clothing for Hanami?" he suggested. "I'm going to have to go and supervise the Morgenroete cleanup."

"We do have to talk about what we're going to do next," the tech glanced over at the gleaming white battleship coming to a rest in a nearby park, even as the girls nodded and headed over to a nearby armoured vehicle that Ryu had pointed out to them.

"Perhaps so," Ryu agreed blandly, folding his arms across his chest. "Personally I just want you out of this colony before ZAFT decides to return with a larger force."

"Not anytime soon," Snake pointed out. "We disabled a very good amount of their mobile suit force."

Ryu hummed in response. "What do you plan on doing, Snake?" he questioned the older man.

Snake jerked a thumb at the bed of the truck. "Recruiting," he grunted.

Ryu snorted in response. "If they give up how they found out about the mobile suits, pass it along, would you?" he requested. "The one responsible for it has a lot to answer for."

"Excuse me," Kira spoke up as he approached them. "Uh… if possible, could… could I talk with one of the redcoats, see… I know him… or at least _knew_ him."

Snake turned a scrutinizing eye to the brown-haired teen, causing him to take a step back in slight fear. "Go ahead," the infiltrator nodded.

Kira gave him a thankful nod before running off towards the captured pilots, followed by Tolle, Mir, Sai and Kuzzey.

Ryu let out a groan as he rubbed his face before letting himself collapse onto the ground. "I'm not even thirty and I think I'm too old for this shit," he proclaimed aloud.

* * *

 **Vesalius**

* * *

"You WHAT!?" Yzak roared at the tech.

The tech weathered the angered shout with practiced ease as he rose an eyebrow at the silver haired pilot. "Like I said," he replied calmly. "We lost contact with Pilots Zala and Mckenzie about halfway through the mission. Their normal suits' locator devices are no longer operational either."

"Are they dead?" a horrified Nicol gasped.

"Calm down, it'd take a lot more to kill those two and you know it!" Dearka assured. "They have to be alive somewhere!"

"I can neither confirm nor deny that," the tech informed shaking his head. "However, the _Dubois_ will be remaining behind and will radio if they learn anything."

"Grrr… damned Naturals…" Yzak clenched his fist tighter.

"Chairman Zala is NOT going to be happy when he finds out about this," Dearka paled.

"I don't think _anyone_ on the council is going to be happy with _us_ ," Nicol pointed out. "We lost almost a dozen mobile suits, nearly thirty soldiers and all we got are four mobile suits, one of which is ORB's."

"Four mobile suits with technology that can change the way we've been fighting all this while," Dearka reminded gravely, listing off said tech, "Phase Shift Armour, beam weaponry - in both melee and ranged varieties too, and built-in CIWS."

"Yeah, but what about ORB's response?" Nicol responded with a concerned look. "Morgenroete is a privately owned company that, while holding ties to ORB… doesn't answer to the government for all of their work, hell, we've had some of their technicians loaned to us several times in the past."

"According to the unit's designation that Kievers forwarded to us, it was designed for ORB," Dearka muttered, bringing up the data on a separate unused console. "Designed to change its role on the fly by using a highly modular frame and weapons system. It can be more versatile than even the Strike, but it's harder to use properly because of the number of weapons available… of which we have only the beam rifle."

"I guess that means the pilot's going to have to improvise," Nicol murmured thoughtfully. "Who was it that captured it again?"

"A greencoat, Mordred Kievers," Dearka said.

"Ah," Nicol responded. "I don't particularly remember him, was he in our year at the Academy?"

"No, he graduated earlier than us," the blonde shook his head. "Probably just some random guy that got lucky and grabbed the Exodus in the chaos."

"Is he going to be the assigned pilot?" Nicol wondered curiously. "Like you said, it is a powerful machine, but… we'd have to be careful if it's deployed near ORB forces, they may want to take it back."

"He'll be piloting it… temporarily at least until we find a better pilot," Yzak sighed, massaging his head. "I know his reputation, he's a simulated ace."

Nicol stared at Yzak for a moment before his eyes widened. "Wait… isn't he that guy who was bragging that he could take out the Hawk of Endymion faster than the Commander?"

"Right in one," Dearka nodded. "100 battles, 100 wins in the simulator. Got a stick the length of the _Vesalius_ stuck up his ass."

Nicol let out a groan. "Never mind ORB _trying_ to get it back, with him in there they _will_ ," he groused in an uncharacteristic display of irritation. "I mean, have you heard the stories of ORB's new 'Mini Mobile Suit' they deployed in the colony?"

"The one that ate the Commander's CGUE's arm?" Dearka frowned, recalling the scene of the white CGUE reentering the hangar missing an arm and a leg. Rau had exited the mobile suit with a neutral expression after explaining the damage to the stunned techs. If he was pissed off, either he didn't show it or they just couldn't see it under his mask.

"Yeah," Nicol nodded in confirmation. "Apparently, whatever was in that missile _ate_ the metal,"

"Crazy Naturals, what have they been researching this time?" Yzak growled.

"Who knows," Dearka sighed as he shook his head. "But that's for somebody above our paygrade to figure out, I'm hitting the rack, get some shut eye before we get back to the PLANTs."

"How are you so sure we won't be redeployed again to intercept the Naturals as they come out of the colony?" Yzak asked.

Dearka gave Yzak a bland look. "We've lost _how_ many mobile suits in this attack?" he retorted. "Plus the Commander's unit is out of the picture, plus who knows what else ORB has stashed away inside of that colony."

"We still have the mobile suits we stole from them!" Yzak countered. "All they'll need is a little tuning and we can take on whatever the Naturals throw at us!"

"Yzak, this is an _ORB COLONY_ ," Dearka loudly stated. "What do you think ORB will do when their fleet arrives with us sitting at the doorway of their colony taking potshots at anyone who tries to leave?"

"Grk…" Yzak took a step back, finding no real counter to that. All the while he had been too fixated on the EA's presence, he realized.

"Besides, Miguel's staying behind, remember?" Dearka pointed out. "He'll hightail it as soon as ORB is a blip, but he'll be keeping an eye out."

"Miguel didn't get out of that fight unscathed either," Nicol frowned. "That 'Mini Mobile Suit' got to him too."

Dearka shrugged. "He volunteered apparently," he mentioned. "Although he did seem rather abrupt with the Commander for some reason."

"He's probably pissed off at losing," Yzak muttered, looking at the colony through the observation deck's window. "I know I am, damned Naturals hiding behind ORB… We completed part of our mission, but we lost Athrun and Rusty doing it."

"It's war," Dearka replied, shrugging. "You can bet if the tables were reversed, we'd do the same thing."

"So we can't do anything at all to stop them from reaching Earth now?" Yzak groaned. "We should just get the Council to send over more mobile suits."

"And by the time _those_ reinforcements arrive, ORB's will," Dearka reminded. "They do have _Ame-no-Mihashira._ "

"Can't we just ambush them on their way to Earth instead?" Yzak suggested. "That way we won't need to engage ORB."

Dearka shrugged. "Who knows if they even leave, remember, we _did_ blow up their ship," he pointed out. "Plus, all the EA personnel may be dead and it was ORB who secured those units."

"I just want to get Athrun and Rusty back," Nicol stared at the colony.

"You think I don't?" Dearka questioned. "Well, at the very least it'll be ORB who takes custody of them, after all, it _is_ their colony."

"I hope so," Nicol muttered. "But… remember the stories of our soldiers disappearing without traces the few times ZAFT has fought against Diamond Dogs?"

Dearka grimaced. "Just… hope for the best Nicol, it's all we can do," he told the green haired pilot.

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

 **AstralXYZ:** Yes, we decided to resurrect one of Peace Walker's more… interesting weapons. And break the fourth wall a little bit. Wouldn't be a proper MGS fanfic otherwise!

 **DragonKnightRyu:** I still can't believe Kojima did that…

 **AstralXYZ:** Well, there aren't many reviews with questions for us this time, so this chapter won't have a review reply section. I hope the fanfic has been entertaining to you so far, and remember, feel free to drop suggestions or a few words of encouragement! Also, we apologize for taking so long with this update, but Fallout 4 has been rather… distracting for the both of us. We don't have a specific deadline for the chapters, they'll be done when they're done. This chapter is actually being released early - the next chapter is barely even half done yet.


	5. Chapter 4: Heliopolis Aftermath

**Disclaimer: We own neither the Metal Gear Solid nor the Gundam franchises, though I do wish I could write stories like Kojima can. Also, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a Hideo Kojima game!**

 **Co-written with DragonKnightRyu**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Heliopolis Aftermath**

* * *

 _ **Archangel**_ **, Bridge**

* * *

"Thank you for accepting my invitation to discuss things in a more civil manner," Murrue inclined her head towards the boss of the Diamond Dogs and the acting boss of Morgenroete's Heliopolis division as they entered the bridge. A woman with short black hair in an OMNI officer's uniform was scowling at the two like she had swallowed a lemon whole. Quiet followed behind the two discreetly, as did the ORB princess who still looked a little shaken up.

"Nice setup you got here," Snake grunted, scanning the bridge. The Archangel's security crew had their guns lowered as per Murrue's orders, but he didn't doubt for a second that they wouldn't hesitate to raise them again. The bridge differed quite a bit from Mother Base's command centre - the only other bridge he had ever seen, but he could see the same practicality in the layout. Just that it had a lot more fancier-looking screens and dials and… his head hurt, so he decided not to think about the rest.

Ryu, on the other hand, felt much more at home in the bridge layout as it was modeled after the _Kusanagi_ of the ORB Fleet. "Yes, because we do have a lot to discuss," Ryu drawled, a deep frown on his face. "Snake, I have several dozen things that I need to be overseeing right now, especially since the Site Director up and died in the fighting, only thing I care about is getting _them_ off this colony."

"I understand the problem," Murrue nodded. "And I'm willing to ferry you and your people back to Earth aboard the Archangel. It's the least we can do after all the trouble we caused."

"B-But Lieutenant! The supplies…" the other OMNI officer quite quickly shut up when Murrue directed a glare at her.

Ryu glowered for a moment, glancing at Snake who returned his look calmly. "You will get _some_ supplies from Morgenroete," he informed tersely. "Enough to make it to Earth at the very least."

That quickly shut the officer up.

"It'll be a great help," Murrue agreed. "We're lucky the fighting didn't cause the colony to disintegrate…" she heaved a sigh of relief, looking out the window at the colony beyond.

Ryu shifted slightly in response. "Before we do go anywhere, I want to make one thing clear," he told the captain. "Anyone from Morgenroete, _including_ the ones currently piloting the G-Weapons will _not_ be accepting orders from you outside of a battlefield situation, any attempts to press this, and I have given them permission to deal with it as they see fit."

"They are ORB citizens after all, they fall under our jurisdiction," Cagalli agreed.

"I can accept these conditions," Murrue shot the officer another glare as if daring her to countermand her decision. "All I can ask for is for an armed escort until we reach Earth."

"Very well, since we will be on this ship, we can provide that," Ryu agreed with a nod. "And they understand that in combat situations, that you have command of this ship."

"Diamond Dogs will supplement the ship's security as well," Snake added. "Ryu, I assume your Onis are space-capable."

Ryu nodded. "Vacuum sealed with a air supply of roughly… three… four hours," he informed.

"Then we're good for limited space combat as well," Snake nodded. "See if you can get modifications on the third Oni unit completed for Quiet too."

Ryu nodded in agreement. "Air supply will be a bit shorter, mainly because the current model is directly feeds to the helmet," he explained. "But should be good for her usual style of fighting."

"May I ask… what is she?" Murrue's curiosity got the better of her as she looked at the female sniper standing beside Snake. Cagalli was also quite curious, having witnessed some of the sniper's supernatural abilities, but she held her tongue out of respect.

"Classified," Snake grunted.

"I suppose I should've known better than to ask," Murrue groaned.

Ryu lifted his lip in distaste. "Like we'd give even _more_ weapons for Blue Cosmos to use in their terrorism," he said pointedly.

Cagalli let out a low growl at the name - being the ORB leader's daughter made her privy to such information.

"B-Blue Cosmos?" Murrue blinked a few times, before she finally cottoned on to the reason behind the hostile air in the bridge between the group and her expression turned serious. "There aren't any Blue Cosmos members on this ship. The known ones perished in the initial assault. Like the original captain."

Ryu snorted disdainfully. "Forgive me if I don't believe you," he said, scorn obvious in his voice.

"I'm sorry this distrust had to happen," a morose Murrue sighed. "But not all OMNI soldiers approve of those… scum."

Ryu's eyes lightened for a brief second before they hardened. "Yeah, I'll judge that based on what I see," he told her dismissively.

"That's all I can ask for at this point," Murrue relented. "Right now we need to talk about how we're actually going to get to Earth. Since we've fought back ZAFT and taken out a good number of their mobile suits, we should be free to move for a while but I'm not sure if they'll send reinforcements."

"The best choice then is to leave and make tracks before the reinforcements get here," Ryu said, looking out the window of the command deck. "No sense in trying to stay and hide here."

"Any reinforcements ZAFT sends are more likely to try and intercept us on our way back to Earth," Snake mused.

"Le Creuset isn't likely to take this lying down," a blonde man in a pilot suit entered the bridge. "I'm Lieutenant Mu La Flaga, the pilot of the Moebius Zero."

"Even if he wasn't going to try and take this lying down, he'd still need to resupply and repair his GiNNs," Ryu pointed out. "Closest ZAFT station that can do that is three days of straight travel from here, and by the time he gets back to _Heliopolis_ he'd find an ORB fleet here with this ship long gone."

"Which is why he'll definitely try to cut us off from reaching Earth by hitting us along the way," Mu argued. "Good pilots or not, those kids won't be able to hold him off if he's commanding again, now that he knows what we can do. We got lucky with that acid missile thing."

Ryu smirked. "And _who_ do you think developed it?" Ryu asked dryly. "Plus, I helped with this ship's thrusters, you push them, you can outstrip their ships easily."

Snake shook his head this time. "They've had ample time to regroup. I don't doubt that they're already on the way back to resupply. If they anticipate our course correctly and park themselves in the way, we're still going to run into them."

"So what? We wait here twiddling our thumbs?" Ryu questioned rhetorically. "If they are planning to anticipate our course, then we don't use the shipping lanes, it's risky, but use the pirate lanes."

"That'll work," Mu thought out loud. "Should be easier on the kids at least, let them learn the ropes a bit."

Ryu and Cagalli both flashed Mu a brief, dark, look before looking away. "Do you need anything else from me?" Ryu asked tersely.

"Look, I'm not planning on having those kids fight any more than necessary either," Mu raised his hands placatingly. "I'm just saying - they'll have a much easier time fighting off rowdy, untrained pirates instead of organized, professional ZAFT soldiers."

"Just remember, they are _not_ some toy soldiers for you to play with," Ryu growled angrily.

"I was a school teacher before," Murrue revealed, her expression hardened. "Seeing kids on the frontlines isn't something I want either, but right now we simply have no other choice."

"You don't think I am aware of that," Ryu snapped coldly. "If I had any other choice in the matter I wouldn't even let them _touch_ your ship, let alone be dragged along for the ride."

"Then we might as well get everything started and prepare to leave Heliopolis," Mu suggested. "The faster the kids get off the ship, the less of a beating my conscience'll take."

"Then I'm going to check on the kids," Ryu announced, noticing the vehicle the students had borrowed earlier approaching the ship as he pushed off from the wall he was leaning on. "Let me know if something happens."

"I'll go with him, I don't think I can stand being here for much longer," a hostile Cagalli nodded as she followed after Ryu.

"My apologies for coming across a little touchy," Snake sighed. "I haven't had the best experience with child soldiers."

"Really, Big Boss?" Mu raised an eyebrow. "You make it sound like you've faced them before."

"I have," Snake confirmed. "And been forced to euthanize one too. He had gotten infected with a… chronic disease on the battlefield. Biological weapons."

Everyone left on the bridge save for the two members of Diamond Dogs let out a wince.

"Best not to dig open old wounds now, when we have things to do," Snake said gruffly. "I'll liaise between Morgenroete and your people for now. I don't think the Chief Engineer will be talking to your people unless absolutely needed."

"This is a really big mess we've gotten ourselves caught in…" Murrue sighed, leaning against the wall and rubbing her temples.

"Command will understand, Lieutenant," the black-haired woman stepped forward. "We just need to bring the remaining prototypes back to Earth safely."

"Natarle," Murrue turned to the woman. "I'm just worried about Command learning about Coordinators piloting their mobile suits. They're going to do their level best to force the kids to keep piloting, maybe even help them develop the tech further. No matter what it takes."

"Make sure they don't," Snake turned around and headed for the exit together with his ever-present partner. "Give the kids time to be kids."

It sounded more like an ultimatum than anything.

* * *

 _ **Archangel,**_ **Hangar Deck**

* * *

"So, _why_ are we loading our, _ORB_ , mobile suits on the _Archangel_ again, Snake?" Ryu questioned with a raised eyebrow as the Highwind and Ariete landed on the flight deck of the Assault Carrier. The latter caused the flight deck to groan and creak a little under the weight of its landing.

Cagalli, standing beside them, frowned as she stared up at the mobile suits with a severe expression. She lingered particularly long on the ORB ones.

"Even if you wanted to continue development on those mobile suits, Heliopolis's facilities were mostly wrecked in the fight," Snake took another whiff of virtual smoke. "You'd have to get back to Earth to get back to working on them anyway. Why not call on the favour they owe you to hitch a ride back faster?"

"Because, then we would be seen favoring the EA by fighting on their side when we could wait for ORB reinforcements," Ryu muttered as he rubbed his forehead. "Plus, I don't trust militaries that are run by terrorist sympathizers, call me old fashioned if you will."

"I'm here. I'd like to see them try anything," Snake said calmly. "Once you reach Earth, you can launch the Highwind, Ariete and all Morgenroete equipment and personnel off towards ORB immediately instead of going back with them to the EA."

Ryu frowned deeply as he muttered several things under his breath. "Fine," he replied finally. "But _no one_ touches any of Morgenroete's equipment, our tech will deal with _our_ equipment."

"Goes without saying," Snake took another puff. "Diamond Dogs have been instructed to keep an eye on all Morgenroete stuff, as well as our own."

Ryu nodded slowly as he let out a gusty sigh. "This is all so fucked up, why the hell did the Sahaku's think this was a good idea?" he grumbled to himself. "Why don't we just invite Muruta Azrael over for afternoon tea while we're making weapons for him."

"One rule in the mercenary business - never let your client double cross you," Snake muttered. "This is ORB technology being used in those EA machines. You alone know how it works and the EA doesn't. You could add a remote kill code to the OS that the EA is most likely just going to copy onto their own machines with minimal modifications."

Ryu flashed him a small grin before flicking his eyes over to Kira who was hard at work on the Strike and Aegis' OS'. "What do you think he's doing?" he murmured just loud enough for only Snake to hear. "Ye of little faith, Venom."

Snake flashed Ryu a grin. "Making sure my men have their bases covered is one of my jobs after all," he said.

Ryu rolled his eyes. "I ain't one of your men anymore, remember?" he replied with a wry grin.

"Once a Diamond Dog, always a Diamond Dog," Snake chuckled, punching his arm lightly.

Ryu chuckled in response before he let out a depressed sigh as he rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. "Everything just went to shit," he said heavily. "I told them it shouldn't have been done on ORB territory…"

"You're not the only one, Chief Engineer," Cagalli muttered. "I told Father we shouldn't have signed the deal, even…"

"You did all you could," Snake assured, looking at the Strike's cockpit. "As is, you had no choice in the matter, and you did the best with what you had. The kids are proof of that."

Ryu let out another depressed sounding sigh. "Still..." he murmured. "Snake, I know you don't like killing, but… if it means those kids get home safe and sound…"

"We don't have a choice," Snake pulled out his e-cigar and lit it with his iDroid, inhaling deeply. "The battlefield is a place only for soldiers like us. Kids have no place on it. Keep them off the battlefield as much as you can."

"I plan on it," Ryu assured with a grim look. "When we get back to the homeland, I will make sure they are assigned to my R&D team if they want to continue working within Morgenroete."

Quiet appeared beside Snake, startling the EA techs not in the know about her abilities. Which was all of them. Cagalli, on the other hand, had more experience with the female sniper's tendency to appear out of nowhere, and got away with a small jump. "They don't look too hostile," she noted.

"Yeah, well, they couldn't really send any of their die hard Blue Cosmos supporters out to an ORB Colony," Ryu explained with a roll of his eyes. "They _would_ cause Morgenroete to back out, keeping whatever had been done for the _Archangel_ and the G-Weapons."

"D-Did she just…" one of the EA techs gaped at the female sniper.

"You must be imagining things," Ryu said blandly. "Must've been pulling all-nighters for those kinds of hallucinations."

"Y-Yeah…"

Quiet jerked her head off in the direction of the hangar exit while looking at Snake, who just shrugged and turned towards Ryu for a moment. "Guess I'm needed. See you around then."

"Right," Ryu nodded and watched the duo leave, noting their close proximity to each other.

"Chief Engineer," Cagalli walked up to Ryu as well with a thoughtful look. "Can I help with maintenance on the mobile suits? I don't want to feel like I'm sitting around twiddling my thumbs doing nothing."

Ryu hummed as he considered Cagalli's request. "Alright, but you will have to do what you are told, understood?" he pinned her with a tight look.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Cagalli nodded grimly. "Treat me like you would your own men, none of that 'ORB princesses shouldn't get their hands dirty' stuff here." She wrinkled her face as she used air quotes to indicate her displeasure with the attention her title got her.

Ryu nodded and let out a sharp whistle. "Hiroto!" he shouted across the Hanger, causing a plain looking engineer to look up. "I'm placing Cagalli in your team, show her the ropes and don't skimp on the work!"

"C-Cagalli Yula Attha-sama!?" the engineer's jaw dropped to the hangar floor. "But… B-But…"

Cagalli rolled her eyes.

"Do it, Hiroto," Ryu ordered sternly. "Right now she ain't a princess, treat her like a newbie."

"T-The Chief Representative would have my head for this!" Hiroto gasped.

"No he won't, if anything he'd consider it just punishment for running off on her own like she did," Ryu countered. "She's ready to work, so put her too it, maybe she'll learn something useful while she's at it."

"A-Alright…" Hiroto didn't seem completely convinced just yet, but he nodded in a defeated manner and jogged over nervously. "Nice to meet you, C-Cagalli-sama…"

"None of that -sama stuff," Cagalli quickly cut the man off. "While I'm here, I'm working under you and I don't expect to be treated as my moniker suggests. Just -san will do."

"R-Right," Hiroto nodded again. "Then… would you prefer to work on the ORB or the EA machines?"

"Either is fine," Cagalli said, looking up as twin streaks of silver left the Ariete and Highwind's open cockpits.

"Then I'll have you working on the Strike for now," Hiroto nodded as he led the blonde off towards the indicated mobile suit, regaining his confidence as he spoke with the girl.

"Uuuu…" a disembodied voice floated past Ryu's ears as he felt a soft body pressing against his back, though he couldn't see it.

Ryu chuckled quietly. "I take it you weren't able to find very much, Hanami?" he questioned in a low whisper.

"I can barely wear anything…" the invisible silverette whispered.

"Mm, well, when we get back to the homeland, I think I might be able to help," the engineer whispered in return. "A commercial R&D division is looking at breathable clothing, they might have something you could use if I ask their Chief nicely."

Hanami was silent for several moments. "T-Thank you, Ryu-sensei…"

"Well, I am partly responsible for you being in this situation," Ryu admitted with a grimace. "Want me to show you to where the others are bunked?"

"D-Do we really need to stay on t-this ship?" Hanami whispered a little fearfully.

"Unfortunately," Ryu murmured in return with a heavy sigh. "Honestly, I would much rather be waiting for ORB reinforcements, but… we need to get the ORB prototypes back to the homeland as soon as possible, and unfortunately this is the only intact ship on station."

"... Can I just stay i-invisible the whole trip?" she asked.

"Well, it would be awkward to explain how food is being lifted up by nothing and disappearing," Ryu joked. "But, honestly, I wouldn't suggest it, you're going to have to adjust to it sooner rather than later, plus, these guys are all soldiers, and OMNI soldiers are nothing, if not professional towards civilians."

"Uuuuu… even when I'm d-dressed like this?" Hanami faded into view, still clad in her white bikini, although there was now the addition of black boots and sports gloves.

Ryu gave her an easy smile. "Well, if they stare at you too long I could always use the Oni to pin them down while someone gouges their eyes out," he teased. "They'd get the message pretty quickly after that."

Hanami blushed a really bright red. "T-Thank you…"

Ryu nodded, patting her shoulder. "How are you feeling?" he asked in concern. "Has anything felt… off ever since you woke up? Other than the obvious parasite related things."

Hanami's blush got even brighter, if that was at all possible upon contact. "N-N-N-No…" she stammered.

Ryu nodded absently as he allowed his hand to drop from her shoulder and back to his side. "Alright, if you do need anything, don't be afraid to ask," he assured her.

The silverette nodded, before walking off. She paused mid-step and hurried back to Ryu though. "I-I-I never got to p-p-properly t-thank you for s-saving me…" she whispered, fidgeting with the sling of the beam rifle on her back.

Ryu stilled as she spoke to him. "I… I'm flattered, but… not worthy of it, Hanami," he told her, a distant look on his face. "I was the one who got you into that mess into the first place."

She shook her head. "C-Chameleon-san t-told me that if you h-had carried me out a-any later, I would be…" she trailed off, not quite able to finish the sentence. She had to suck in a deep breath before continuing, "And t-there was no choice, right? I-It was the b-best chance to get us all out safely… W-What happened was an a-a-accident…"

"Perhaps, but… it's still a guilt that I will carry with me though," Ryu whispered before giving the silverette a small smile. "Thank you though, Hanami, it does help to hear you say that."

"Ano… ummm…" Hanami looked to either side, before shaking her head and smacking her own cheeks. She then hugged the man, taking him completely by surprise. It was just for a moment, however, as she let go and took a step back. "T-T-T-Thank y-y-y-you…" she yelped before fading away into invisibility.

"Huh?" Ryu questioned as Hanami disappeared. "What was that about?"

"That's odd, I've never seen her hug anyone like that before," Kagami walked up, blinking in surprise.

"Really?" Ryu questioned, looking over to the red-eyed twin before raising an eyebrow as an ever so slight amount of red dusted his cheeks. "Any particular reason you look like you're going for a swim?"

Kagami had apparently taken a leaf out of Hanami's book and was now clad in a black bikini instead of her earlier garb. She had matched her twin's boots and gloves as well. "Oh, this?" Kagami caught Ryu's gaze and indicated herself with a wistful look. "I… well, didn't want Hanami to feel alone. At least this way she knows I'm with her," she chuckled.

Ryu nodded at her explanation. "I see," he responded. "That was nice of you, glad to see she is being supported."

"Well, that… and I'm not as shy to flaunt what I have," Kagami grinned. "But she's right, you know. She's alive now because of what you did for her. We're in your debt."

Ryu shook his head. "Let's just call it even with you guys forgiving me for putting you in that situation in the first place," he informed.

"Denied. Either way we were going to get into that situation," Kagami shook her head as she sidled up against Ryu. "But be careful with that chivalrous attitude, you're making me fall for you," she winked.

Ryu rose an eyebrow at her before letting out a sigh. "Then let's just agree to disagree on the subject," he told her as he rubbed his forehead. "So, you're really not angry with me?"

The red-eyed twin shook her head. "I'm angrier at myself for letting Hanami go to the mobile suit she tried to take," she clenched her fist. "I should've been the one to go for that more dangerous one…"

Ryu snorted. "Welcome to combat, where after the fact you second guess every decision you made," he told her wryly, patting her back. "Happens to everyone."

Kagami was uncharacteristically silent for a while, before she leaned against Ryu. "How do you deal with it?" she whispered, closing her eyes as she sought assurance from the engineer.

"Honestly? I'm not really sure myself," he said bluntly. "I just try to learn from each encounter, use each mistake as a motivator to try and prevent another one, not that it works all the time."

"That's not much help," Kagami forced a chuckle.

"Sorry, I'm not much help for comforting people," he explained. "Never really been good with people in general really, always felt more comfortable in my lab than in a crowd."

Kagami laughed at that. "Well, you won't have a private lab on this ship," she pointed out.

"The perils of being a chief engineer," Ryu said with an overly dramatic sigh. "Getting assigned to posts that result in _this_ happening."

"I'd really like to get to know you better anyway though, boss," Kagami smiled, patting his back. "Since I'll be working under you for the foreseeable future…"

Ryu snorted as he nodded. "Hey, if you want to, I won't say no to competent help," he informed. "And it'll get the board off my back about taking on some learning interns."

"Oh yeah, does that offer you extended to my twin sister about protecting her from the gazes of pervy men extend to me too?" Kagami grinned.

A bark of laughter erupted from Ryu's throat at her question. "Well, since I am your boss it is sort of my duty to deal with an PR duties that come up, one of which is harassment," he explained jokingly. "Which I am allowed to deal with as I see fit."

"Even if I'm walking around wearing this and everyone's looking at me?" she looked around the hangar. A few of the techs gulped as they were caught staring at the provocatively-dressed and very well-endowed girl and quickly looked away with coloured cheeks, suddenly finding their work slightly more worthy of their attention. Just slightly.

Ryu chuckled in response. "Well, it might be different if you deliberately provoke them," he amended. "And you don't have a special condition that forces you to wear that."

Kagami grinned. "Thought so. By the way, how was your meeting with the EA people earlier?"

"As well as could be expected," he told her. "Made it clear under no circumstance are they to try and order you guys to do anything, if they have a request, they submit it to me or Snake and then we consider it and run it by you guys, also, if need be we will need to help them defend the _Archangel_ if attacked."

"I… expected as much," she nodded, looking up at the Highwind she had piloted earlier. "You know, that cockpit's kind of growing on me."

"Mm?" Ryu hummed questioningly. "How so?"

"I don't know…" Kagami shrugged. "But I just… kind of feel at home in it."

"I guess that just means you're a natural at it," Ryu commented idly. "Not exactly a great pilot myself to be honest, I can get by, but not very well. I'm much better at building and modifying them then piloting them."

"Say, where did Big Boss and Quiet go?" Kagami looked around. "I thought I saw them here just now…"

Ryu looked up and took a look around. "Huh, no idea," he admitted before shrugging. "Might've went to go find some privacy or something."

"Oh well…" Kagami shrugged as the other silverette in her family walked up to them. "Something up, Fubuki?"

"Ryu-sensei, Tolle-san is asking for help getting the Aegis fixed for him…" Fubuki glanced over at the Aegis in its docking hangar with a frustrated Tolle appearing to be trying to tear his hair out as he worked at a console in front of it.

Ryu sighed as he shook his head. "The work never ends it appears," he announced as he began to move towards Tolle. "Let's hope it's something simple."

* * *

 **Archangel, Observation Room**

* * *

Snake took a puff of his e-cigarette as he looked out the window at the ruined colony that lay outside the Archangel. Destruction wasn't an uncommon sight to him - it was just the scale of it that was new. He snorted to himself, remembering that giant robotic weapons were a lot more common here. At the very least their presence had helped avert a potential disaster.

"Better get in touch with Kaz, let him know about what happened," he muttered.

"Mother Base doesn't have a transmitter powerful enough to break through the Neutron Jammers," Quiet reminded.

"Once we get close enough to Earth, we can send a message to Ame-no-Mihashira, get them to pass it on," Snake pointed out.

Quiet thought for a moment before nodding. "Do you think we're starting to get involved too deeply in this war?" she added after a moment of thought.

"It's new, fighting for the EA side," Snake shrugged. "But it's what we PFs do sometimes. Best not piss off ZAFT too much."

The duo were silent for several more moments as they stared out the window together. Snake frowned as he caught sight of a strange sign among all the wreckage.

"Since when did he open a branch here?" he muttered, slightly awed at his partner's business sense. Standing there among the wreckage, almost completely undamaged, was a sign that read, 'Miller's Maxi Burgers'. Behind it was a building bearing a similar signage, also undamaged.

Quiet squinted, focusing in on the building. "Building's made of military-grade reinforced armour," she muttered in surprise.

"Kaz…" Snake shook his head. "He'd better not have taken the money for that out of Diamond Dogs' account."

"He'd better not be selling that Chem-Burger he came up with," Quiet was looking a little green. She had no idea how Code Talker had actually liked that burger… but then the man was a little off his rocker.

Snake just shook his head and chuckled gruffly. "Knowing Kaz, he's using it as a base for the Intel Team on the side."

Quiet showed her agreement with a nod.

The two lapsed into a comfortable silence for a while as they scanned the colony for anything that looked even vaguely familiar. It wasn't a whole lot considering the world they had come from was several decades, if not centuries outdated in terms of technology. Oh sure, they had some to give them an edge, but if it hadn't been for ORB's help they'd have gotten left behind overall.

"We still need to find a pilot for _that_ ," Snake muttered, more to himself than anything.

Quiet tilted her head sideways for a moment before she caught on to his train of thought. "Why don't you pilot it?"

"I'm not cut out for piloting the very things I was dedicated to blowing up," Snake let out a bark of laughter. "Too much tech for an old timer like me to handle. Best leave it to the young ones."

Quiet flinched.

Snake froze and shook his head. "Not too young though," he added sombrely. "We don't want another Eli. Dousing that… place in napalm was one of the hardest calls I had to make in my life."

Quiet cupped Snake's face reassuringly. "There was nothing else we could do about that," she said sincerely, staring into his eyes. "You made the only call we could."

"Doesn't stop killing Eli and the other kids from weighing on my conscience," Snake sighed, placing his hands on top of Quiet's own. "Adult soldiers are one thing, child soldiers are another entirely. I hate that I'm being put in a spot where I'm being forced to rely on them again."

Quiet shook her head. "This world has different rules than our own. ZAFT uses soldiers that are barely out of their teens as well."

"It's screwing up my sense of morality," Snake closed his eyes and exhaled deeply, before reopening them to gaze into Quiet's pale blue eyes. "I still can't adjust, Quiet," he confessed.

"Don't worry, we'll adjust… sooner or later," Quiet assured, touching her forehead against Snake's with a smile. "It's nice to be able to do this without touching your horn."

"Well, ORB did a great job of removing it and all the remaining fragments in my body, not to mention regenerating the damaged parts of my brain," he chuckled, recalling that visit to ORB's best hospital only a month or so after their arrival via wormhole.

It had taken a bit of correspondence with Ryu before he had learned about ORB's advanced (compared to his own world's) medical facilities, and it hadn't taken him long to climb into a chartered jet from Seychelles to fly his way there. Once there, he had paid a visit to Onogoro Specialist Hospital and they had taken one look at him before proclaiming him completely healable, though the price had been hefty. Nothing the sale of a few diamonds couldn't solve and a week later he was back in action minus the horn. It had been liberating.

"It's also nice to be able to hear your voice," Snake added, eliciting a saucy smile from the woman.

Quiet had come along on the visit to ORB, mostly to accompany Snake. She never expected to be held detained at the airport upon detection of 'biological warfare agents'. On Snake's advice she had stayed calm and not hurt anyone as security searched her and came up with nothing in confusion. One thing had led to another, and after that they had called in Code Talker as well to explain her condition in more detail.

They had visited the hospital together, with Quiet taking a separate examination where she too, underwent surgery. ORB's technology was a lifesaver as they released medical nanobots into her body, with the ability to detect and excise the vocal cord parasites with much greater precision than anything their old world had. The nanobots healed her vocal cords and any leftover damage the other parasite inhabiting her body had missed - that one she requested they leave alone with a written note. It was more of a symbiote after all, and didn't hurt her.

She had been incredibly happy when she came out of the surgery and found that she could speak English without the parasites killing her immediately - of course, in a safe quarantine room. Code Talker had been similarly awed at ORB's technology, and had requested some nanobots to use in his own research on radiation-cleansing archaea. Of course, Snake had pretty much threatened the hospital staff to remove all records of her operation and destroy all recovered samples of the vocal cord parasite. They had quickly obliged and done so under his supervision.

The same operation had been done on Snake afterwards, detecting and removing the Kikongo strain of the vocal cord parasite as well as the Wolbachia that kept it in check. The good thing was that it was relatively cheap, easily affordable by Diamond Dogs. And it also fixed the infertility problem the male staff had after being vaccinated. All the former staff from the old world that had contracted the parasite were quickly signed up for the procedure.

All that led to a much happier Mother Base where the constant threat of the vocal cord parasite reemerging was completely eradicated. And a few more couples forming now that they knew they could have children again. Snake and Kaz had introduced retirement benefits as some of the female soldiers opted out of the action and settled on Seychelles to begin raising families as their pregnancies began to show. Kaz's womanizing ways had somewhat returned, but Snake and Quiet had kept it in check - he still remembered the incident from the Caribbean Mother Base where Kaz had knocked out one of the men to sleep with his girlfriend.

"I'd love to thank you for that, but it doesn't seem appropriate to do it on this ship," Quiet whispered, showing her more amorous side.

"It can wait till we get back to Mother Base," Snake agreed. "But in the meantime, I think we need to make up for some lost time."

Quiet didn't wait for Snake to start as she pressed her lips against his. Their tongues snaked into each others' mouths and began fighting for dominance as the both of them felt a rush of passion they thought they had left behind long ago.

They didn't stop for at least a minute, and Quiet stared at him through half-lidded eyes. "Mmm, not too bad a kisser, but could use some work," she remarked.

"I'm a career soldier, never had much thought for romance," Snake barked out a laugh.

"Well, you're lucky I'm one too, so I completely understand," Quiet giggled and dove right back in.

They adjourned to their private quarters after a while to get some snogging done.

* * *

 **Archangel, Brig**

* * *

Athrun Zala groaned as he felt the world around him spin as he returned to consciousness. "What… happened?" he questioned himself as he dragged his eyes open to bear witness to a dark grey ceiling above him, and depressingly, a set of bars locking him into a small area with a single bed and a toilet. "I've… been captured?"

"Looks like we both were," a familiar voice informed wryly.

"Rusty?" Athrun called out questioningly as he turned to see the orange haired pilot giving him a wry grin from the cot next to his.

"Yup," Rusty confirmed. "Damn, what did they hit us with, horse tranquilizers?"

"Do… do you know where we are?" Athrun asked the older pilot who shook his head in a negative.

"Not a clue, just woke up about… ten minutes ago?" he estimated. "No one came or went, but… they probably know we're awake," he pointed outside of the bars to where a security camera sat, its red light blinking.

Athrun let out an 'ah' sound. "I've… heard some stories about what these 'Diamond Dogs' do to their prisoners," he admitted with a slight shudder.

"Well, chances are, those are just that, stories," Rusty commented. "Wouldn't surprise me if they just shipped their prisoners off to ORB or something."

Athrun grimaced in response. "Considering we just attacked their colony, that just might be worse," he commented. "Even if we were only attacking EA personnel, it's still ORB territory."

"Actually," a new voice broke in, one that was familiar to Athrun as he jerked his head towards the cell bars in surprise as Kira stepped into view. "You spent the majority of the time fighting combat rated Morgenroete personnel and Diamond Dogs, EA soldiers were not allowed inside of Morgenroete itself."

"K… Kira?" Athrun whispered, getting a curious look from Rusty as he looked between the two teens.

"Hey… Athrun, gotta admit, didn't think we'd meet again like… _this_ ," Kira commented, gesturing around them as he slipped his hands through the bars as he leaned against them. "Especially with you as a soldier."

Athrun flinched slightly in response before looking at his childhood friend. "What about you, working for the Earth Alliance, after everything they've done?" he asked accusingly.

Kira rolled his eyes in response. "I work for Morgenroete," he retorted pointedly. "And thanks to your soldiers attacking anyone that moved I had to pilot the Strike in order to fight."

The eyes of the two soldiers widened in response as they looked at each other. "They what?" Rusty asked incredulously. "We were under strict orders to check our targets! That we were only to get in, secure the EA prototypes and get out!"

"Yeah, well tell that to my friend who got shot trying to secure an _ORB_ prototype," Kira shot back, his eyes flashing in anger before he reigned himself in. "She nearly died because of that…"

"I'm… sorry," Rusty said with a sigh as he collapsed back onto the cot. "Dammit, this is so fucked up, there goes _any_ chance of peaceful resolutions with ORB, we'd be lucky if they didn't declare war on us…"

"Not to mention we're PoWs now," Athrun groaned. "Our parents are going to go mad."

Kira looked away at his statement. "I'm sorry about your mom," he whispered to Athrun. "I heard she was on Junius when…" he trailed off with a shake of his head. "If that why you enlisted?"

"It is," Athrun confirmed. "Father only got madder and madder after that incident."

Kira frowned in response to Athrun's statement. "That's just an excuse," he said pointedly. "Just because you father was angry, that wasn't why you joined, you did it because _you_ were angry."

Athrun froze and clenched his fists. "Maybe that's true," he admitted. "But I wanted to weed out the less desirable elements of the EA that started the Bloody Valentine War. What I did… what I was led to believe I was doing here… it's just making it worse."

Kira's eyes flashed briefly for a second before taking a calming breath. "I was told… that I was to inform you that my boss will be having some words with you," he informed in a soft voice. "Athrun, if you really are my friend still… then take my advice and answer his questions," he told the blue haired pilot. "He… he is dangerous when angry, and after what happened, he's absolutely livid."

"It makes no difference either way," Athrun said blankly. "If I go back to ZAFT, my father will have my head for failing the mission. And your boss'll have my head for attacking in the first place…"

"Athrun!" Rusty gaped at his comrade. "You can't be serious!"

"Rusty, everything that's happened so far has completely deviated from our mission parameters," Athrun sighed. "ZAFT's hands will be tied with politically-important PoWs held on the ship, and I doubt our other commandos can successfully board the ship with Diamond Dogs running security. Our best choice right now is to cooperate with them."

"It really is," Kira told them with heavy eyes as he pushed away from the cell. "Athrun… I am glad that I was able to see you again, if… if I get a chance I'll bring Tori down, we can talk about old times."

A squeak could be heard from beside Kira in a very familiar voice as he brushed against something soft.

Kira blinked several times in response before tilting his head. "Hanami?" he called out, reaching out for the air where he brushed up against something.

"Hyaaaan~" the voice came out of seemingly empty air. "K-K-K-Kira-kun… n-n-not there…"

"Gyah!" Kira yelped as he let go as if he touched an active hot plate. "Well how can I know where to touch when I can't see you Hanami?"

"Uuuuu…" Hanami faded back into the visible spectrum, holding her arm up across her chest indicating where Kira had touched her earlier. "S-Sorry…" she whimpered.

"Sorry for touching you… _there_ ," Kira returned. "Why are you here anyways?"

"I-I wanted to see the s-soldiers we captured…" she said shyly.

Kira sighed as he palmed his face. "Why couldn't you just come in visible?" he asked without pulling his hand away.

"I-I couldn't help it…" Hanami blushed. "Y-You know I'm bad around n-n-new people…"

Kira gave her an exasperated smile. "Well, I can tell you that Athrun here was just as awkward as you are back in the Lunar Academy," he told Hanami, gesturing to the confused pilot whose eyes suddenly widened.

"Kira! don't you dare-"

"Why when he tried to talk to a girl he had a crush on he ended up throwing up all over her shoes… course she was wearing sandals at the time…" Kira continued with a wide grin, shooting Athrun a smug look.

Hanami stared at Athrun, mouth wide open before she dissolved into a fit of hysteric giggles and began banging her hand against the wall, actually denting it with her superhuman strength although she didn't notice it.

"You know, Sandra _never_ wore sandals again after that," Kira continued.

"Yeah? Well at least I didn't 'accidentally' blow up half of the school when I was trying to _bake a cake!_ " Athrun shot back in revenge.

Hanami fell to the floor, clutching her stomach in full-blown laughter.

"I didn't try to take over the school with a swarm of robots screaming about the Emperor after a Warhammer 40,000 binge!" Kira shouted.

Hanami began rolling on the floor laughing.

"I didn't think I was a half-orc sorcerer when recovering from a three week long, uninterrupted D&D session because of sleep deprivation!"

Rusty was looking back and forth between the two, holding a hand up to his mouth as he stifled his laughter.

Hanami began banging on the floor, causing no small amount of tremors across the whole room and again, denting it.

The two friends stared at each other, as if daring the other to try and upstage them. Kira suddenly began to let an evil grin on his face, making Athrun's eyes widen. "You wouldn't dare," Athrun breathed.

"Athrun… is…" Kira started, the two onlookers pausing in their laughter long enough to listen in.

"Is what?" a flat voice questioned from the door.

Everyone present glanced over at the door and froze as they realized a certain Morgenroete employee was standing there, looking over the scene with a scrutinizing eye.

"This entire cell block has been shaking for the last few minutes," Ryu stated as he looked over the room, making careful notes of the dents in the wall and floor. "And laughter… in the brig, normally those two don't accompany one another."

Hanami let out an 'eep' and disappeared, much to Rusty and Athrun's shock.

"For now, however," Ryu continued, nonplussed by the silverettes sudden disappearance. "I will be needing to have a few words with the prisoners… in _private_."

"S-Sorry…" Hanami's voice floated out of nowhere, again causing the two ZAFT redcoats to jump in shock.

Ryu closed his eyes and nodded, reopening them to look at Kira. "I have no plans on harming them so long as they are cooperative, Kira," he told the teen. "I know who to direct my anger towards."

"T-Then… I'll go first…" Hanami whispered, as her footsteps could be heard leaving the area.

Kira and Ryu exchanged a long look before Kira let out a defeated sigh and shrugged to Athrun. "Guess your secret's safe for now," he commented half-heartedly before he followed Hanami out, the door sealing shut behind him.

"Right, I am Chief Engineer Hisanaga," Ryu announced as he stepped in front of the bars. "And ever since your attack killed the head of the Morgenroete facilities I am nominally in charge of Morgenroete members and assets, one of which your… comrades have captured. So… convince me not to have you summarily executed for the war crime of active shooting on non-combatant civilians, in a _neutral_ colony."

The two captives sucked in deep breaths at the ice-cold aura that seemed to emanate from the older male as they cowered back into their cell. "Umm…" Athrun trailed off, sweating bullets even as Rusty nudged him. "We can explain…"

* * *

 **An hour later**

* * *

"So, it seems like Rau le Creuset may be pulling a double game," Ryu announced to the 'command staff', namely himself, Murrue, Natarle, Mu and Snake. "He had told the commandos he had sent in that they were to limit the number of casualties, but, from what we saw, he didn't give _everyone_ those orders."

"Scumbag," Mu growled. "That's completely like him."

"How do you know that they were telling the truth," Natarle questioned, glaring at Ryu who returned her look.

"Quite simple really," Ryu replied, his eyes narrowing at the Ensign. "They wanted to live."

"And one of them seems to have a personal connection with one of the kids," Murrue recalled the first encounter between the kids and the captured redcoats while they were still unconscious.

Ryu nodded in confirmation. "But, unlike what you are thinking, I did not use that as a tool," he retorted. "Nor will I allow someone _else_ to."

Natarle gulped.

"Wasn't planning on it," Murrue shook her head, ignoring Natarle's reaction. "What are you going to do with them after we reach Earth?"

"Diamond Dogs will likely be taking custody of them," Ryu informed, looking over to Snake. "Correct?"

"If they're alright with it, we'll settle them in the Seychelles until things die down," Snake nodded. "Not going to fully enlist them until they're grown up though, at least. At least 18."

Ryu nodded his understanding. "Anyways, there has been growing tensions in ZAFT apparently, a faction following Supreme Chairman Clyne has been pushing for peace, but a faction following Chairman Zala wants hostilities to continue," he informed. "Take a wild guess as to which Rau is on."

"Zala's," Mu frowned. "Just like in the EA, with Blue Cosmos and everyone else."

"We've known about Blue Cosmos for a while now," Snake interjected. "Diamond Dogs is actively, but covertly working against them on Earth."

Mu let out a bark of laughter. "Explains why Command's been tearing their hair out trying to figure out the disappearance of a battalion's worth of people in Africa."

Ryu shrugged his shoulders in response. "Anyways, the attack doesn't really add up in my mind," he commented, looking over his notes. "Zala _is_ an extremist, but to outright kill ORB citizens like that? Doesn't make sense, at least not at this stage, he knows ZAFT can't fight a war on two fronts."

"You're saying someone's pulling some strings behind the scenes?" Murrue frowned.

Ryu shrugged again. "No clue, either that or Zala's gone off the deep end really," he answered

"ORB doesn't quite have the ability to sustain a war against ZAFT either, you know," Snake pulled out his e-cigarette, much to the chagrin of the bridge crew and lit it with his iDroid. "No Met…. mobile suits, even though you have those neat Izumo-class ships floating around in space equipped with mobile suit hangers. Not to mention you just don't have a large enough standing army."

"Doesn't mean we won't be a thorn in his side," Ryu pointed out, making sure not to mention certain projects Morgenroete was working on back in the homeland. "While we don't have the armed forces, we _do_ have the tech, and if ORB and the EA were to fight together against ZAFT…"

"EA would be more likely to stab you in the back and take your tech," Snake said bluntly, even as the present members of the Archangel's crew flinched. "No offense."

"I know that," Ryu told the mercenary. "It's just _one_ possibility on what would happen if ORB were to join in the war."

"Er… no smoking in the bridge please…" one of the operators said timidly, thoroughly intimidated by the grizzled merc.

Snake tapped the e-cigarette a few times with his prosthetic hand, producing a clinking sound. "It's electronic, fake smoke," he simply responded.

"So, how's the course plotting going?" Ryu questioned. "I would like to get this ship out of the colony before the end of the day."

"Everything's on schedule, the loading of supplies is proceeding as planned," Murrue consulted the small terminal on the captain's chair. "I still think Lieutenant Flaga should have taken command…"

"Eh, I'm needed more as a pilot than as a commanding officer," Mu brushed it off. "Plus, sitting in the command chair has never really appealed to me. I'm the type of guy that prefers field work."

Murrue let out a resigned sigh. "It's all thanks to the Morgenroete machinery you're letting us use. With so much of the EA's equipment here wrecked it would have taken us far too long to do it otherwise."

Ryu hummed in response as he checked over his notes again. "Anything else that we need to cover?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, not really," Murrue shook her head and sank into her seat. "It's nice to deal with people that aren't so condescending towards the lower-ranked officers for once," she admitted.

Mu scoffed. "OMNI doesn't have a very good track record of treating the grunts well," he agreed.

Ryu raised an eyebrow. "What else did you expect from college grad officers," he asked, sarcasm leaking into his voice.

"College grad officers that haven't the slightest real world experience and expect everything to go well for them," Mu agreed with a smirk. "I think we'll get along quite well!"

Ryu shrugged in response. "And you're not the worst EA soldier I've come across, so point in your favor," he replied blandly.

"Oi, oi, no need to be so standoffish…" Mu groaned. "You're making me feel like handing in my OMNI uniform now. Not that it wouldn't be a bad idea."

Murrue opened her mouth to reprimand the laid-back pilot, but closed it again when she realized she didn't exactly have a very good counter to his statement. Indeed, the EA wasn't doing much to inspire their loyalty… It seemed the rest of the crew had similar thoughts, judging by their thoughtful expressions.

"Sir, with all due respect, that's treason you're talking about," Natarle replied on autopilot, having no such thoughts.

"And who's going to report him, you?" Ryu asked the ensign, pinning her a look. "Take away your Armies _only_ counter for Rau?"

The ensign promptly shut up.

"Regardless, we still need to make it back to Earth first," Murrue frowned. "After the supplies are loaded, we still need to bring in the Strike's and the ORB units' modular equipment. The latter is behind schedule because the hangar with the equipment inside was brought down during the fighting, but from what we've found the equipment is still intact."

"That's good, the equipment is experimental and mostly prototypes for the moment," Ryu said with a small frown. "And not to mention expensive."

"Still, that setup…" Murrue studied the equipment list. "You took the concept of the Strike's modular equipment and took it to the extreme…"

Ryu shrugged. "They're testbed units," he informed. "They're pretty much designed to test our prototype weapons, do you know how much it cost just to build _one_ of the base beam rifles? Let alone building a frame that can support the weight and friction from all the add-ons swapping in and out while still maintaining operational reliability."

"So it's not likely to be mass produced," Murrue concluded, manipulating a few buttons. "The Archangel never had any of this data," she declared as she deleted the data.

"Thank you," Ryu said gratefully with a nod, although he still made a mental note to have his students make a clean sweep through their systems before they left. "We've also loaded the specialty equipment for the Onis, namely the charging stations, weapon storage racks and the storage containers for the armor."

"We never had them onboard either," Murrue smiled, doing the same for those records. "So these Onis are… powered armour, essentially? Not mini mobile suits?"

"Anyone looking at them would come to the latter conclusion," Mu agreed.

Ryu nodded. "Powered Exoskeleton Armor," he confirmed. "Vacuum sealed, grade-A ablative Titanium armor, kevlar-polymer ballistic mesh underneath. It's a beast, plain and simple. Quite honestly it probably could take a few hits from a GiNN Assault Rifle and still work… not too sure about the person inside it though."

"That's if they hit," Mu pointed out. "GiNN sensors aren't designed to handle a target that small and mobile. Vehicles are one thing, but something that's for all intent and purposes a mini mobile suit… Hell, my Moebius Zero can barely even pick you up on the sensors because they're not calibrated for something the size of an Oni."

Ryu shrugged. "I have a tendency to make my things to last," he informed smugly. "Hell, I think my first computer can probably run some of the software on this ship."

"Yeah, yeah, you Coordinators do that on a regular basis," Mu dismissed the boasting casually and fired back in a joking tone, "Let us mortal Naturals take pride in something, will ya?"

"Whoever said I was a Coordinator?" Ryu asked, genuine surprise on his face.

"You're not?" Mu's jaw dropped to the ground. "Hell, you're working at Coordinator standards with your work on the Oni at your age!"

"IQ of 204," Ryu informed, a grin spreading on his lips. "And a knack for engineering."

Mu picked his jaw up off the ground and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "Damned genius."

"Yeah well, I'm not much into the whole 'jock ace pilot' schtick myself," Ryu commented wryly.

"True," Mu brightened up a bit. "Although I could do without the fangirls."

"Fangirls?" Murrue raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, _them,_ " Ryu muttered. "A sort of offshoot of a stalker, only stalkers eventually get the point of 'no stalking'."

"I'm not sure I follow," Murrue tilted her head sideways.

"Don't," Mu paled. "They're beasts who will do anything under the sun that is needed to get in bed with the object of their affections."

"Which is strange, because they seem so normal when they are not aware of said person's presence," Ryu said thoughtfully.

Snake sighed. "I hate to admit it but we have a few on Mother Base."

A cold aura formed around Quiet as she clenched a fist.

"At least they know enough not to act out," Ryu said dryly, sending a pointed look towards Quiet. "There's a reason my 'workshops' are so secure."

"Okay…" Murrue nodded along, still not quite getting the point, before one of the consoles beeped.

"Message from Heliopolis Control!" one of the operators called out. "One of the colony's escape pods malfunctioned and launched by itself with damaged thrusters and is now sitting dead in space! The colony no longer has the equipment needed to retrieve it with everything wrecked by ZAFT, they're asking us to bring it back."

"Send the mobile suits out now!" Ryu snapped, immediately. "Tell them to retrieve that pod!"

"Where are the students?" Murrue immediately joined in.

* * *

 _ **Archangel**_ **, Mess Hall**

* * *

Kagami was sighing as she watched Hanami move around the kitchen, memorizing the layout and planning out in her head where the supplies were going to go. She was nigh-impossible to snap out of it once she got going, so the remaining two sisters had just left her be. At least being able to cook would help take her mind off things a little.

"I'm a failure…" Tolle was squatting in a corner of the room drawing circles on the floor pitifully. A dark cloud of despair hovered over his head.

"Why. because you could _move_ a mobile suit with a Coordinator-styled OS?" Sai asked skeptically. "Something that you are in no way familiar with."

"My shots came closer to hitting our own allies instead…" the cloud of despair actually started _raining_ on Tolle.

"Well, with the new OS I put in, it should be easier to move and shoot now," Kira informed. "Especially now that I was able to take the time to incorporate your reaction time and the such like."

"Don't get so depressed, Tolle _-kun_ …" Kagami let the suffix roll off her tongue cheekily as she bounced over to him still clad in her bikini from earlier. "To us, you'll always be the guy that was bragging about becoming a top-class ace pilot…"

"Oi, you teasing me, woman?" Tolle growled, looking up and turning around only to get an eyeful of soft flesh. "H-Hey…"

"Hands off, Kagami!" Mir rushed in and dragged the seductress away. "Get your own boyfriend!"

Kira sighed in unison with Fubuki as chaos began to unfold around them due to the silverette. "What is it with Kagami trying to rile everyone up with her… umm… body?"

"You know her, Kira-kun…" Fubuki muttered. "Kagami-nee just loves getting a rise out of people…"

"I worry for whoever truly captures her interest," Kira said with a light chuckle. "She might just do something really off the wall to get their attention."

"I think she might be interested in Ryu-san…" Fubuki confessed.

Kira blinked several times as he processed what Fubuki told him. "Really?" he questioned. "I guess with him saving Hanami that would get her interest, but why do you say that?"

"I'm her sister, I can tell," Fubuki arched an eyebrow. "It's in the little way she glances at him every now and then when she thinks he isn't looking. She doesn't do that to anyone else except us sisters."

"With how long we've been together I'm a little surprised I never noticed…" Kira sighed again, reclining on his chair.

"Don't be," Fubuki offered a small smile as she edged slightly closer to Kira. "I've always been with my sisters after all."

"I guess…" Kira muttered.

"Still hung up on your crush on Flay-san?" Fubuki asked evenly, masking her discomfort with the subject.

Kira flushed in response at her question. "A-ah," he stammered out. "Honestly… I'm not really sure _how_ I feel about her, I mean… she's pretty but… I don't really know much about her."

"You think we'll see her again after this mess?" Fubuki glanced over at the observation ports looking out over the colony's wrecked interior.

Kira shrugged. "Who knows, I mean, we will be working with Hisanaga-sensei now, and he's based out of the Morgenroete Main Branch in the Homeland," he answered, looking out the window himself. "Plus, she is from the EA so, there is that."

"So…" Fubuki fidgeted a little as her cheeks gained a light dusting of pink. "Are you still going to pine after her… after we leave, Kira-kun?"

"I don't know," he admitted with a deep sigh. "I mean… I know that it's just a crush… but…"

"W-Well… you might meet new people on the ship, right?" Fubuki smiled hopefully.

Kira nodded in agreement, giving her a thankful smile. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that," he said. "Thanks, Fubuki."

"D-Don't mention it," Fubuki's heart began to race as she did her level best to look Kira in the eyes while hiding her blush. It didn't quite work out as well as she intended.

"Are you feeling alright, Fubuki?" Kira asked. "You're looking kinda flushed."

"I-I-I'm fine, maybe it's just the stress from all the fighting recently…" Fubuki hurriedly covered it up, pulling the first excuse she could think of off the top of her head. Curse her shyness! She blamed Hanami for passing it on to her… although she had it nowhere near as bad as her older sister.

"Well, maybe you should get some sleep once you eat," Kira suggested. "Too much stress isn't good for you."

"Y-Yeah… I should," Fubuki spoke on autopilot, looking away from Kira to watch her more demure older sister put a pan down on the hob. Her eyes widened as she noticed a mop of black hair in the kitchen near the counters. "Thanks, Kira-kun… er, Kuzzey-san, I think it'll be a good idea to get away from the kitchen now…"

"Huh?" Kuzzey responded, looking away from the kitchen he was inching towards. "Why?"

A knife flying over his head answered that question half a second later, landing impeccably in a knife rack on the complete other side of the kitchen as Hanami began cutting up some meat with incredible speed.

Kuzzey paled as he back pedalled away from the kitchen in fear. "Always amazes me when I see that," Kira commented. "It's almost like she's a Jedi or something."

"She's gotten even faster…" Fubuki whispered in awe as Hanami disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the kitchen to chop up some condiments, before picking up the whole chopping board and giving it a seemingly careless flick to catapult a mixture of onions and garlic into the waiting pan. While they were still airborne, she was cutting up some tomatoes which soon flew across the room into another pan.

"Could it be because of… _that_?" Kira asked, referring to the parasites that had been transferred over to her.

Even the comedy dust cloud that had been the result of Kagami's teasing of Tolle and Mir's subsequent intervention dissolved to reveal the three staring, wide-eyed and jaws agape at the sight of the superhuman cook.

"I don't doubt it," Fubuki breathed. "She's never managed to outrun one of her own flying knives before… and now she's throwing the knife, doing something else and then catching the knife at its destination…"

"Okay, this… this is something beyond Jedi," Kira announced in shock. "I have no idea what though."

It didn't take long for a delectable aroma of freshly-cooked food to diffuse out from the kitchen, although most everyone present were too absorbed in watching the cooking process than savoring the drifting smells. Hanami sometimes appeared to be in multiple places at once as she worked the kitchen solo - such was her speed.

"I… I just don't know what to say," Sai commented as he stared at the scene. "It's… it's indescribable."

"Oh, you've never seen her cook before…" Fubuki realized. "Okaa-san cooks like that at home too, she taught Hanami-nee the same style. Though she keeps saying Hanami-nee is better… It's almost like a martial art."

"Seeing this, I can believe it," Tolle stated, wide eyed as he watched.

"Fubuki, your family is nuts," Mir added.

"I don't deny it," Kagami was a little out of it as well.

" _Alert! All pilots report to your stations!_ " the sudden announcement broke through their focus on the cooking.

"Oh come on, we haven't even eaten yet!" Tolle groaned out loud.

"At least I'm not a pilot," Kuzzey sucked in a bit of drool that had been hanging from his mouth.

"Traitor," Kagami grumbled as she climbed to her feet.

"Come on, we better see what's going on," Kira announced as he stood up himself. "I hope it's not ZAFT again…"

Fubuki looked quite torn between the kitchen and the exit of the mess hall, as she repeatedly looked between the two. Eventually she let out a resigned sigh and made her way to the exit while gazing forlornly at the kitchen. "So we have to go out hungry…" she moaned piteously.

"Well, maybe there will be leftovers?" Kira offered hopefully.

"I don't think Hanami-nee will mind cooking extra for us after we come back…" Fubuki trailed off hopefully while staring at her sister.

Hanami stopped her work for a brief moment to nod before disappearing in a blur around the kitchen again.

"Well, that's solved then, let's go see what we're needed for," Kira said in relief. "Let's hope it's something simple."

* * *

 _ **Archangel**_ **, Hangar**

* * *

The pilots gathered at the entrance of the hangar, quite clearly slightly annoyed at having their meal interrupted. The hangar was in some slight disarray, with the remaining Morgenroete techs running around doing some last-minute work on their mobile suits. The sudden announcement seemed to have caught them off guard as much as it had the pilots.

Waiting for them there were the grim faces of their superiors - Murrue, Ryu and Snake. Mu and Quiet were there as well, unsurprisingly. Cagalli was there even, dressed much to the students' surprise in the same orange coverall worn by the other members of Morgenroete.

"What's going on?" Kira asked.

"We have a bit of a situation outside the colony," Murrue explained. "One of the escape pods malfunctioned and jettisoned by itself into space, only to get hit by debris and damage its thrusters."

"You're going to be heading out there to retrieve the pod," Ryu continued. "However, there is a snag, there's still a ZAFT ship hanging around out there."

"So you're worried we'll take fire as we bring the pod back," Fubuki concluded.

"It is a distinct possibility," Ryu confirmed grimly. "And… the best way we can think of to retrieve the unit while ensuring the ZAFT ship doesn't open fire… is to attack."

"Can't we talk it out in peace?" Fubuki pleaded. "Maybe they'll understand if we just talk to them nicely."

Ryu grimaced in response. "Normally I'd say that they would peacefully allow that, however…" he trailed off with a look out over the destroyed colony interior.

Fubuki caved in with a resigned sigh at the thought of more fighting. "Alright…"

"Fubuki, you will be securing the pod and returning it to _Heliopolis_ ," Ryu continued. "Tolle, how are you doing with the new OS for the Aegis?"

"I'm pants at it," Tolle groaned. "Even with all the fixes I'm still having trouble trying to do like 10 different things at once. I hate to say it… but I don't think I'm cut out for doing this for now, until something's done to lessen the load."

"Maybe you need to introduce an AI to help with posture control," Snake mused.

"There's a prototype Quantum Computer for that back in the Homeland," Ryu admitted with a sigh. "For now, you'll act as a turret pretty much, so just focus on defending the ship."

"Yeah, well, I have doubts about a turret that's as likely to hit allies as it is enemies," Snake folded his arms crossly.

Tolle teleported into a nearby corner, squatting down drawing circles on the ground with a cloud of despair hanging over his head.

"He does do that pretty often, doesn't he?" Cagalli frowned.

"Yup," Ryu agreed with a nod. "He does, Kira, Kagami, you two will be running interference for any mobile suits that launch, keep them away from the _Archangel_ and the pod."

"Gotcha," Kagami nodded. "It'll be my first time fighting in open space… should we get proper pilot suits just in case?"

"Over there, in the Ready Room," Mu announced, pointing over to a side door. "They should fit."

"Much as I'd like to try piloting in just this, it's probably a really bad idea in vacuum," Kagami gestured at her bikini with a grin as she walked off towards the indicated door with the other pilots in tow, save for Tolle.

Ryu rolled his eyes at her statement. "Are there any other questions?" he asked, looking around the group.

"Umm… do you still want me heading out?" Tolle raised his hand without leaving his emo corner.

"Like I said, Tolle, turret duty," Ryu said with a sigh. "At the very least you can shoot in the general direction of the enemy ship, right?"

"Alright…" the depressed pilot said lifelessly as he got up and headed for the ready room too.

"I almost feel sorry for him," Quiet remarked.

"Well, it's better than him just sitting there unable to do absolutely anything," Mu pointed out. "This way at least he can harass the enemy."

"And harass our own guys," Snake frowned.

"Ease up on him Snake," Ryu said. "He's just a kid and he's doing his best with something that would give _you_ headaches."

"Which is why I'm not even in it in the first place," Snake shook his head. "I'll ease up on him when someone gets him an AI or something to help him at least keep his shots away from allies."

"We make do with what we have," Ryu pointed out. "Those Quantum Computers are _really_ expensive to produce, and we only just got it to a size where it can be loaded into a cockpit."

"What about the one you helped us miniaturize?" Snake asked, suddenly getting a brainwave. "There are a few in the containers meant for delivery to Mother Base…"

"Incompatible operating systems," Ryu rejected, shaking his head. "I tried it."

"Too bad," the grizzled merc shook his head.

"Why would you want stuff like that when you don't have any mobile…" Mu's eyes widened as he cottoned on to what they were talking about. "La li lu le lo, I heard nothing!" he announced as he stuck his fingers in his ears in an exaggerated manner.

"Smart choice," Ryu commented dryly. "Still, hopefully this goes off without _too_ many hitches."

"I hope so too," Murrue agreed. "God knows we've had enough excitement for today."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **AstralXYZ:** Sorry for taking particularly long with this chapter again, but we've gotten tied up in a lot of stuff. In my case it's been my final projects for my 2nd last semester of study (Now final semester).

 **DragonKnightRyu:** Work, school, projects, all sorts of assorted unpleasantries that had to have been dealt with.

 **AstralXYZ:** I'll be graduating roughly around April this year, after completing an animated short. For those not in the know, I'm studying Digital Animation, specializing in the 3D modelling part of the pipeline. Hoping to eventually be able to work on games in the future! Also, couldn't resist dropping in a little MGS4 reference at the very end. XD

Please stay patient in the wait for updates, we're not planning on dropping this anytime soon! We hope to see you against next chapter! Oh, and if you're curious, this is my DeviantArt page. (just replace the commas with dots)

arkhonus,deviantart,com

This chapter was completed in December - I really should've posted it earlier but between my final project and Chinese New Year I was far too busy to even think of much else. Really sorry, guys. Chapter 5 is in the works, I'll try to have it out soon.


	6. Chapter 5: Escape from Heliopolis

**Disclaimer: We own neither the Metal Gear Solid nor the Gundam franchises, though I do wish I could write stories like Kojima can. Also, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a Hideo Kojima game!**

 **Co-written with DragonKnightRyu**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Escape from Heliopolis**

* * *

 **Outside** _**Heliopolis**_

* * *

The Archangel sailed out of the spaceport even as its twin catapult decks opened up and the linear accelerators extended to their full length. It was every bit as majestic as its namesake as the sunlight bounced off its white, blue and red hull, though marred in many places by dents, scratches and scorch marks, leftovers from its less than gentle exit from its concealed hanger as well as the attempt to blow it up while it lay in port.

Within the ship, it was a flurry of activity as techs rushed to prepare it for the upcoming battle, performing emergency maintenance on the parts that had been damaged in the initial explosion. Not exactly mission critical at that point in time, but nonetheless important. Luckily the original crew was temporarily bolstered by the presence of the Morgenroete technicians who were using their significant experience to get everything working again.

It helped that quite a few of them were Coordinators, much to the chagrin of some of the original EA crew. Wisely, they held their tongues, knowing that they were helping to keep them alive as well.

"Kira Yamato, Strike, launching!" Kira called out from the cockpit of the Strike and floored the throttle, catapulting his unit out into space. On its back was a large black and red backpack equipped with several large thrusters, and it was wielding a beam rifle and a shield.

" _Kagami Yukikaze, Highwind, taking off!"_ Kagami followed with a cheer as her mobile suit, now properly configured to gain access to its sleek, aerodynamic jet form launched from the other catapult equipped with a beam rifle and a container full of missiles on its back.

" _Alright guys, remember, we're making a beeline for the pod and once Fubuki returns from dropping it off and the citizens secured in_ Heliopolis _we're going to be hauling ass out of here,_ " Ryu instructed over the radio from his place on the bridge, taking the temporary job of Radio Operator. " _While chances are we'll end up fighting the ZAFT ship out there, we will_ not _be the first to fire, reactionary stances only._ "

" _Right!"_ Fubuki's oversized mobile suit stepped onto the catapult, causing it to creak slightly. " _Fubuki Yukikaze, Ariete, launching!"_

The Ariete's launch clearly stressed the catapults quite a bit, as more creaking could be heard throughout the hangar, and it left at a much slower speed than the other two. Fubuki winced as she heard the sound, and started wondering if she should suggest an upgrade…

" _Going to have to work on the catapult, reinforce its struts for the Ariete,_ " Ryu told someone on the bridge, his voice filtering through the radio. " _Make sure to assign a crew to that._ "

" _S-Sorry…"_ Fubuki sheepishly mumbled over the comms.

" _Not your fault Fubuki, blame the Ariete itself, that thing is the heaviest mobile suit to date,_ " Ryu explained. " _So don't panic about it._ "

" _Tolle Koenig, Aegis, launching…"_ Tolle was still down in the dumps judging by his downcast tone as he launched, still somewhat fighting his controls to get the Aegis flying properly.

" _You're doing much better there Tolle,_ " Ryu announced to the teen as he watch him get set up under the bridge. " _Who knows, maybe by the time we get to the homeland you'll be one of the few naturals who can use a Coordinator OS._ "

" _Yeah, well, 5 points is still much better than 0 points…"_ Tolle allowed a forced chuckle to escape his mouth. " _But thanks, boss."_

" _Just keep at it,_ " Ryu assured. " _What's the ZAFT Ship up to?_ "

" _Er… it's not doing anything, as close to it as we are,"_ Kagami frowned. " _Is it abandoned or something? I'm still picking up heat from the engines though…"_

" _Unlikely, so keep a close eye on in,_ " Murrue ordered, slipping into a sterner countenance as she took command. " _How is the recovery of the Pod going?_ "

" _I've got its distress signal, homing in on it now,"_ Fubuki reported. The blinking lights of the escape pod were pretty hard to miss against the darkness of space.

" _The guns aren't even turning in our direction…"_ Kagami reported in.

" _That's… strange,_ " Ryu declared after a moment. " _What is with this passive stance they're taking?_ "

" _I'll buzz them with a flyby, see if they do anything,"_ Kagami ramped up her throttle, flaring her thrusters to the maximum and flying ahead of Kira.

"Kagami, wait!" Kira called out.

" _Kagami!_ " Ryu snapped. " _Pull back! You're too far out!_ "

At that moment, the ship ahead of them opened up its flare ports and launched three flares that exploded into bright white lights just above it.

" _What does that mean?"_ Kagami blinked, switching back to mobile suit mode and flaring her thrusters in the other direction to stop her forward momentum.

" _Ceasefire, non-aggression,_ " Murrue explained with a curious tone. " _But… why are they firing those flares?_ "

Suddenly, the ship's catapult opened up and a GINN painted in dusky orange with an odd green right arm coasted out, completely unarmed unless you counted the white piece of cloth it was holding as a weapon.

" _Hold fire,_ " Ryu ordered. " _I recognize that unit, I think he's wanting to talk…_ "

The GINN pointed at its right arm and flew closer to the Highwind and the Strike. Once it was close enough, it pointed its left arm at the Strike and fired a wired communications probe that latched onto its shoulder.

" _Oi oi, bit of a hostile reaction here, isn't this? I'm not here to pick a fight,"_ the pilot spoke.

"Who are you?" Kira called out in question. "What are your intentions?"

" _I'm Miguel Aiman, and I have no intentions whatsoever,"_ the GINN pilot replied. " _I'm just here because_ Le Creuset _had me stay behind to watch your ship for a while, and I do have to keep up appearances."_ He spat the name of his superior out like it was a particularly foul word.

" _Kira, patch me into the connection,_ " Ryu requested, Kira following through on the request within seconds. " _So then, Mister Pilot, having second thoughts then?_ "

" _If it isn't the mini mobile suit pilot that claimed my arm!"_ Miguel grinned. " _Eh, I figured it'd be a good way to thumb my nose at the arrogant bastard. None of our pilots had…_ special orders _from the guy, so I can't go to the Council with proof that he's sabotaging our relations. Even if I did, Zala would have him out of the mess in a heartbeat."_

" _So what do you plan on doing then?_ " Ryu questioned cautiously. " _Do you plan on doing nothing as he corrupts what you stand for?_ "

" _I can't do anything for now,"_ Miguel shrugged. " _For now. I can't very well shoot my own people in the back now, can I? I just need more time to sound out more people before I can move."_

Inside of the _Archangel_ Ryu gave a look over to Snake. " _I can arrange a meeting with one of those people,_ " he stated.

" _It'll have to wait, I'm not free now,"_ Miguel waved it off. " _You'll know when the time comes. In the meantime, feel free to bring that escape pod home. I'd have sent it back but I don't think Heliopolis Control would appreciate a ZAFT mobile suit appearing again so soon after the attack."_

" _Very true,_ " Ryu agreed as the connection was cut and Miguel's suit turned away to head back to the ship. " _Well… that went_ far _better than expected…_ "

" _But I didn't even get to pull the trigger even once…"_ Kagami mock-whined.

" _Those are the best kind of engagements,_ " Mu commented seriously, letting out a relieved breath. " _We don't have to worry about injuries or repairs needing to be tended too._ "

" _I have the pod!"_ Fubuki reported in. " _I'll bring it back aboard the Archangel first."_

" _The hangar crew will be at the ready,_ " Murrue assured. " _As will the medics._ "

Kagami heaved a sigh of relief. " _Well, at least we got what we came for,"_ the Highwind turned to look at the escape pod in the hands of its sister mobile suit.

Kira nodded his agreement as both the vanguard mobile suits headed back to rendezvous with their mothership.

* * *

 _ **Archangel**_ **, Hangar**

* * *

Even as the Ariete landed in the hangar, the support staff were already gathering near the hangar entrance. Fubuki made sure to set the pod down gently to avoid jostling the occupants while the Strike, Highwind and Aegis came in and settled into their docking bays - the latter a little unsteadily. While the pod was secured to stop it from floating away in the lack of gravity, the pilots exited their mobile suits and floated over towards the pod.

"Come on, let's get this hatch open!" one of the techs shouted.

"We're working on it!" Cagalli shouted back as she assisted the other techs in breaking the seals. "Not exactly pressing a button here!"

"Shouldn't there be a pass code or something to get this thing open?" another tech yelled out, while a few others brought in a laptop and connected it to the lock.

"The circuitry is busted!" the chief shouted. "We have to do it manually so put your backs into it already!"

"Where's the emergency lever?" another called out.

"Hey Fubuki!" Cagalli shouted out, getting an idea. "Can you use the Ariete to tear the hatch open?"

" _Got it!"_ Fubuki called out via the loudspeakers and reached down with the Ariete's bulky hands. One hand took hold of the pod gingerly on the other end for support, while she manipulated the other hand gingerly to prepare to press it into the pod. " _Whoever's inside, please move away from the hatch!"_ she broadcasted into the pod.

They gave the occupants a few seconds to move before they signaled Fubuki to remove the hatch, a terrible, eardrum shaking, screech echoed through the hanger as the hatch was ripped off, freeing the occupants from the damaged pod.

The confused occupants streamed out of the pod, looking around and trying to get their bearings. The mobile suits in their cradles instantly alerted them to the fact that they were on some kind of warship.

"Wait, why are there EA soldiers here?" one of the men gaped as he pointed out the soldiers in EA uniforms.

"Easy now," Ryu called out as he entered the hangar. "Due to a delicate situation, the crew of the EA Warship _Archangel_ is currently assisting us in transporting top secret ORB weaponry back to the homeland following ZAFT's attack in return for food and supplies, unfortunately, because we are already underway, I am going to have to ask you to bear with this for now while we work on transferring all of you back to _Heliopolis_."

Natarle, who had been following behind together with the rest of the bridge crew, bristled at that, but made no objections.

"Then… this isn't an ORB ship?" one of the men looked around, frowning.

"No, this isn't," Ryu confirmed. "I will personally guarantee your safety, plus… we do have Diamond Dogs on board."

Kira's eyes widened as he caught sight of a very familiar redhead in the back of the pod.

"F-Flay?" he called out in surprise, catching the red-head's attention.

"Oh… you're Sai's classmate… Kira, right?" Flay asked as she drifted out of the pod, her eyes widening at the sight of mobile suits. "M-Mobile Suits!?"

"They're not ZAFT ones," Kagami floated over still in her pilot suit. "Hey, Flay! Wasn't expecting to see you again."

"A-ah… Kagami?" Flay questioned in surprise, looking at her pilot suit in surprise. "W-what are you two doing here? Were you stranded as well?"

"In a way, I guess…" Kagami scratched the back of her head. "One thing led to another, we became Morgenroete employees, ended up piloting those mobile suits to keep them out of ZAFT hands… and now we're sort of stranded here too."

"Then… why are you here on an EA ship?" Flay asked in confusion. "Did… they come to our aid?"

"Well… it's complicated," Kagami continued scratching sheepishly as she turned to look at Ryu. "I'll let my boss explain."

Ryu scratched the back of his head. "Most of it is classified," he answered. "But they were on Heliopolis and we need to get the ORB prototypes back to the homeland ASAP, and this was the only working ship nearby."

"That's the gist of it," Kagami forced a smile - that really said nothing about the complexity of the situation, but it was classified so she couldn't do a thing anyway. "So, I guess with the hostility of the ZAFT ship nearby no longer in question, we can send some of them right back to the colony to await rescue?"

Ryu nodded. "We will," he confirmed. "A couple of engineers went to go grab some shuttles to bring the citizens over to the colony."

"Better than putting them in the line of fire on the ship," Fubuki commented as she joined the group, also in her pilot suit.

"Hence why they're being sent over," Ryu agreed. "Hopefully there won't be any more interruptions."

"Fubuki?" Flay blinked. "If the two of you are here… then does that mean Hanami is here too?"

"She's… here, but something happened to her and she'd rather stay hidden," Kagami explained.

An invisible tug of her sleeve confirmed that Hanami agreed with her twin's explanation.

"Anyways, you better get ready to transfer over to the colony," Ryu said, turning the conversation topic away from the shyer silverette. "The shuttles should be here soon."

"But if I go back to the colony… my father will likely want me back as soon as possible…" Flay realized, a look of horror crossing her face.

Ryu raised his eyebrow. "So, pretty normal for a parent to want their child back after where they lived was attacked," he countered bluntly.

"No, you don't understand!" a panicked Flay ran to Ryu and gripped his collar. "The reason I came to Heliopolis in the first place was to get away from him!"

Ryu blinked, unfazed by the sudden grip. "What do you mean?" he asked in confusion.

"My father is a hardcore Coordinator hater!" Flay began shaking his collar roughly, although it did next to nothing to the much larger male. "I don't subscribe to that ideology, but he's been trying to force it on me… I've never seen why we should hate Coordinators like he does! They're people like us!"

Ryu sighed as he gently pried her hands off of his collar. "If you feel so strongly, you could always apply for amnesty," he suggested. "I see no reason why ORB officials would decline it."

"Really?" Flay's eyes lit up hopefully.

Ryu nodded in affirmation. "ORB accepts many political refugees," he explained. "So long you are of legal age to make such decisions for yourself."

"You're passing by ORB on the way back to Earth, right? Take me with you!" Flay jumped at the chance to escape her family's clutches.

Ryu sighed as he rubbed his forehead. "Fine, but we can't have dead weight on this ship," he told her. "Even the princess is pulling her weight around here."

"I'll help with whatever I can!" Flay desperately said. "Wait, the princess?"

Ryu nodded, pointing off to the side where Cagalli was hard at work, being supervised as she worked on the maintenance of the Strike. "Yup, doesn't matter if you're royalty or commoner, you want to eat, you work for your meal."

"Princess as in Cagalli Yula Attha?" Flay's eyes bugged out almost comically at the realization. "R-Right, I'll do what I can!"

"Everyone has that reaction when they hear of it," Kagami rolled her eyes. "Nobody knows she actually likes the work."

"And she asked for it herself," Fubuki chimed in.

"Even if she didn't ask, she would have been put to work," Ryu replied, accepting a tablet from a mechanic that approached him. "Might've even put her to scrubbing latrines if she didn't volunteer."

"Any… work on the bridge?" Flay quickly asked before she could be volunteered for latrine duty. "Or the kitchens? I'm a pretty good cook."

A cold aura suddenly began looming over the group.

"We already have a cook… and she doesn't take too kindly to other people intruding in her territory," Kagami laughed nervously, patting her invisible twin's shoulder to reassure her. "Don't worry, she can easily handle cooking for the whole ship."

"They do need a dedicated comms officer on the bridge," Ryu informed, looking over the duty assignments. "Any good with communication equipment?"

"I can learn…" Flay was still looking around in confusion and slight fear wondering where the strange aura was coming from.

"Alright," Ryu agreed, looking over to one of the female techs. "Mizuha! Get Miss Allster outfitted in a uniform and escort her to the bridge will you?"

"Yessir!" the tech replied instantly, coming up to the group. "This way please."

"Okay," Flay cast a thankful look at Ryu as she was led away.

"My kitchen is mine…" a disembodied voice growled.

"It'll stay that way, Hanami," Ryu assured her. "Don't worry so much about it."

"Speaking of kitchens…" Kagami was cut off by a loud rumble from her belly. She unabashedly grinned and started marching off towards the mess hall, shedding her pilot suit on the way. "I've been kept away from Hanami's cooking too long!"

"Oooh, me too!" Tolle rushed over to join the silverette. "I'm starving!"

"Is it really that good?" Ryu asked skeptically.

"Umm… I-I-I'd be happy if you were to try some…" Hanami stammered from beside Ryu, still invisible. "I've been k-keeping it warm…"

"Mm? Sure, I could eat," Ryu agreed as he looked over his tablet. "Gotta look over these reports anyways."

"Oh trust me, the last thing you'll be thinking about are reports after taking your first bite," Fubuki smiled as she pushed Ryu along.

"All this talk is just making me more hungry…" Kira moaned.

Ryu rolled his eyes. "Alright then, let's go try this so called miracle food then," he relented good naturedly.

* * *

 _ **Archangel**_ **, Mess Hall**

* * *

"So, you made this all yourself?" Ryu asked skeptically as he looked over the spread of leftovers that sat before them.

"Y-Yeah…" Hanami nodded, still invisible. There were still a few members of the crew in the mess hall eating, and she didn't particularly feel like being seen.

The other members of their group were already present, having been waiting at the mess hall after they got back. Of course, they knew the hungry pilots were going to go straight for the food. Their questions about how things went outside the ship, however, were going unanswered while the pilots satiated their hunger.

"She's got a very unique cooking style," Kagami was already piling food onto her plate. "Oh, the smell is heavenly as usual…"

Tolle was salivating onto his plate, much to Fubuki's and Mir's disgust. Kira was staring very intently at the food.

"Well, let's have a try," Ryu announced as he scooped up an assortment of the spread before taking in a forkful of the stirfry, pausing as he chewed. "Yup, you're staying in Morgenroete, even if I have to fight the army to keep you there."

"I'm n-not that good…" Hanami's blush could be felt from the heat alone.

"Not _that_ good!?" Tolle exploded. "Hanami, you could be a pro chef and 5-star restaurants around the world would be fighting each other to sign you on! Especially the ones with three Michelin stars!"

Ryu nodded in agreement, eating steadily as he worked on his reports. "Honestly, you're spoiling the soldiers," he informed. "They'll grow fat with all this good food."

"A-Actually I made s-s-sure it's all healthy…" Hanami whispered. "I-I knew they'd need all the energy t-they can get…"

"Boss, she's spoiling you too anyway!" one of the techs who was still in the mess hall called out.

"Yeah, because I'm the boss," Ryu countered, looking over his tablet at the tech. "It's my right to be spoiled."

"At least let us get spoiled every once in a while too!" the tech grinned right back. "This stuff is the food of the gods!"

"Just because you begged I may put you on an all fried bean diet," Ryu announced dramatically. "But… the resulting gas would be war crime material."

"What about us? You can't tell Hanami to stop cooking for us because she's been doing that the whole time at Heliopolis," Kagami grinned as she walked over with a plate loaded with food, and smacked her invisible twin on the back.

"Nah, you're my interns, you get fringe benefits," Ryu told them slyly, a grin on his face as he winked.

"Well, I'm never going back to rations again so long as our new cook's on board the ship!" another tech grinned.

"Well, I think I have new form of punishment then," Ryu declared, smirking evilly as the eating techs froze. "Just remember this before you do something stupid… the food is at risk of being taken away."

"That's inhumane!" one of the techs groaned out.

"B-Be nice, R-Ryu-kun…" Hanami whispered, finally fading back into the visible spectrum. To the techs' credit, none of them batted an eye when she did.

Ryu grinned at her easily. "Only when they do something stupid," he assured her, winking. "After all, punishments are there for a reason."

"Yes boss, we'll be on our best behaviour!" the techs pulled off a smart military style salute that wasn't technically required of them.

Ryu snorted in response. "We'll see how long _that_ lasts," he said dryly before looking over to Hanami. "The food's great, thank you."

Hanami faded back into invisibility, began stuttering wildly before falling silent. Moments later there was a thud on the ground and she became visible again, except she was sprawled out on the ground, out cold.

"She hasn't done that in a while," Kagami remarked offhandedly as she continued eating as though nothing had happened.

"So it's normal for her to faint from a compliment?" Ryu asked in concern, looking over the table at the unconscious girl.

"It's normal for her to faint when she gets really, really embarrassed, especially when someone she has a crush on compliments her," Kagami revealed with a smirk.

"Should you really be telling him that?" Kira gaped at the audacity of the amorous silverette.

"Eh, he'd have found out sooner or later," Kagami giggled.

Ryu blinked several times in response. "Why?" he asked in confusion. "I mean… I'm responsible for her getting hurt…"

"I've told you, that was an accident," Kagami groaned. "None of us hold you responsible for that. Otou-san might, but okaa-san can probably talk some sense into him. You saved her from that mess, accept it."

Ryu shifted slightly but nodded slowly. "Still doesn't explain why she's crushing on me, after all, I'm about as far as you can get from the shining white knight as you can get without being pitch black." he commented dryly. "Plus, none of you really know me."

"Give us time," Kagami shrugged as Fubuki headed over to pull their sister over to a seat. "Although I'm pretty sure what's appealing to Hanami is your personality. I know it's appealing to me too!"

"You said the same thing to me," Kira rolled his eyes. "I can't tell if you're teasing or serious."

"Well, I wonder which one it is?" Kagami giggled.

Ryu eyed her carefully. "Your nothing but a giant tease, aren't you?" he questioned dryly.

"Maybe," Kagami replied primly as she polished off the last of her food, staring intently at Ryu as she licked her lips agonizingly slowly.

Ryu merely raised an eyebrow at her. "Going to have to better than that," he told her. "All I ask is that you don't go into M-rated territory."

"I thought I'm already in that territory?" Kagami grinned as she looked down at her bikini-covered body.

Ryu rolled his eyes. "Physical appearance is secondary for me," he told her. "Not unappreciated, just respected."

"Which is all the more reason I'm attracted to you too," Kagami grinned at Ryu.

Ryu hummed. "Let's stay coworkers for now," he told her plainly.

"Killjoy," Kagami pouted. "But hey, I don't mind."

"So, what do you think of working for Morgenroete so far?" Ryu questioned. "Aside from being shot at by ZAFT that is."

"It's awesome!" Kagami cheered. "Getting to work with the absolute latest tech that most students can only ever dream of, and oh, the employee benefits!"

"I admit, the computers are leagues above what we used back at the University." Sai agreed with a nod. "And being able to work with the new technology is pretty fun."

"And we don't even have to leave ORB to find good work," Fubuki smiled.

"That is a bonus," Kira agreed with a grin. "It would be nice to see my parents on a regular basis."

"And the salary… though it's not like we can claim our paychecks until we get home," Kagami gained dollar signs in her eyes.

"And there's her greed kicking in," Tolle said teasingly. "Wonder what she'll spend it all on?"

"Hey, I'll have you know I spend on very practical things," Kagami huffed. "Sexy underwear, nice clothes, a nice car and some gaming consoles are on my shopping list!"

"Wow, I didn't predict _that_ at all," Mir said, rolling her eyes at Kagami's declaration.

"Well then, you try and one-up my practicality!" Kagami folded her arms and shot a glare at Mir.

"A house," Mir announced smugly. "I am getting myself a house on the beachfront!"

"I'll add a spa to my house," Kagami had a sudden stroke of inspiration.

"Don't you mean your _parents_ house?" Mir asked teasingly.

"Yep, which is why a house isn't on my shopping list," the amorous silverette grinned happily. "I can think about a house of my own after getting married! Or I could just let my future hubby think about that."

"Wow… what a gold digger," Tolle commented dryly. "Mir, I am so glad I'm with a practical girl like yourself."

"Hey, I ordered them in terms of priority!" Kagami groaned. "I'd be thinking about the house as well anyway!"

"Don't worry to hard, Mir had her entire life planned out since she was seven," Tolle informed in a faux-whisper. "She even has the wedding completely planned out."

Mir screeched, rushed over and clapped her hand over Tolle's mouth to stop him from giving away more teasing ammunition. She was too late.

"Oho…? You've planned that far ahead as a kid? Talk about foresight…" Kagami smirked as she stared at Mir.

Mir flushed cherry red in response. "S-Shut up!" she cried out. "It's not like that at all!"

"I might try going out to see the world…" Fubuki mused with a faraway look. "Maybe go to France and see what the food craze there is about."

"And check out the nude beaches," Kagami whispered in her younger sister's ear.

"And check out the nude beaches…" Fubuki trailed off as she realized what she was saying. "KAGAMI-NEE!"

"That's… pretty bold," Kira commented, his face flushing at the thought.

Fubuki buried her head in her hands to hide her blush. "Kagami-nee, don't put words in my mouth!" she moaned.

"Pretty lively bunch you all are," Ryu commented, a small grin adorning his face as he flicked through the tablet, still eating his food.

"Well, what did you do with your first salary, boss?" Kagami trained her sights on Ryu.

"Funded my own laser weapons project," Ryu replied with a shrug. "And upgraded my computers."

"Wow…" Kagami whistled. "That's a surprisingly utilitarian way of using your salary."

Ryu shrugged in response. "What can I say, I'm dedicated to my work," he informed, a grin on his face. "Plus, thanks to that, we're getting close to make a breakthrough on true energy weapons, not plasma based beam weapons."

"As in the laser weapons that were dismissed decades ago as being too impractical for effective use against modern armour?" Kagami blinked. "That require god knows how many tons of equipment to produce an effective beam?"

"And I am close to having infantry sized weaponry for use," Ryu informed smugly. "I figured out how to manage the power requirements."

"What about mobile suit sized versions?" Kagami bounced on her seat, doing interesting things to her assets.

"Shouldn't take to long once I have the infantry scale weapons ready," Ryu replied with a shrug. "Just need to scale them up in size, and amp up the power a bit, thankfully an MS battery is capable of managing the power drain."

"That's potentially game-changing, having a weapon that hits the target the moment it fires…" Tolle whistled. "Not even the fastest MS can dodge something like that."

Ryu nodded. "The biggest problem I'm facing right now is the heat output," he commented with a sigh. "Even a second of fire with the current model warps the barrel."

"What if you reinvent the barrel instead?" Fubuki suggested. "We have energy barriers these days that are basically solid like on the EA's Artemis, and you can't warp energy…"

"Lightwave barriers, huh?" Ryu murmured as he frowned in thought. "That… may work, the only issue is the power requirements, going to have to make some more modifications for the power supply."

"But it'll at least work until you can find some alloy that can take the heat without warping, or effective cooling that can counteract the warping," Kagami nodded in agreement.

"Hm, I'll run some simulations, thanks for the idea," he nodded to the youngest silverette. "And this is why I wanted _competent_ interns."

"Thing is though, do you actually have access to that Lightwave Barrier tech?" Fubuki frowned. "It's a closely-guarded EA secret."

"We've been studying it pretty closely," Ryu informed. "We can replicate something similar that will work for what we need."

"Funny that you should be discussing this Lightwave Barrier stuff now, because some of our guys came across it during an op," Snake suddenly made an appearance, walking in from the corridor before laying down a flash drive on the table. "Been meaning to give it to you, none of our R&D guys can make any sense of it."

Ryu quickly slide the drive into his tablet and accessed the data, carefully looking it over. "A mobile suit?" he questioned looking over to Snake. "How'd you take _that_ down?"

"Didn't. Bunch of guys sneaked into an R&D complex affiliated with Blue Cosmos and came back with that," Snake gestured at the screen. "Hyperion. Our tech boys say the data's incomplete, waiting for combat data from the EA units that ZAFT made off with. But the Lightwave Barrier stuff is all fleshed out already."

"Don't need the mobile suit data," Ryu dismissed bluntly. "They were idiots with how they were building it, yeah, I can use this, thanks."

"Oooh, fancy stuff," Kagami nodded to herself as she peeked over Ryu's shoulder.

"Yeah… I definitely could use this," Ryu confirmed with a nod, lost in his own thoughts. "Perhaps I could have it line the barrel… thin layer should be able to protect the barrel from the heat of the laser…"

"I'll leave you to your sciencing then," Snake clapped Ryu's back. "Going to see what I can do with the Oni in the meantime."

Ryu nodded distractedly as he worked furiously on his tablet, the remainder of his food laying forgotten on the table.

"Workaholic," Kagami blinked. "Of course Ryu-kun is a workaholic."

"How else would he get to be Chief Engineer at his age?" Kira questioned, looking over to Kagami with a 'no duh' look. "Plus, he was just handed the solution to what I am assuming to be his Magnum Opus."

"Oh well…" Kagami groaned as she headed over to her twin and shook her awake. "Come on, Hanami, let's get some rest."

"Munyaa…?" Hanami moaned.

"Back in the land of the living, Hanami?" Kira questioned, hiding a grin.

"Eh? D-Did I pass out again…?" the shy silverette whispered.

"Like a light," Tolle confirmed. "All from the boss complimenting your cooking."

Hanami blushed bright red again, but successfully fought off the darkness that threatened to claim her as she glanced over at Ryu only to find him ignoring her food. Her face fell slightly and she got up off her seat and sat down opposite of him. "R-Ryu-kun, is the food n-not to your liking?" she asked worriedly.

Ryu didn't reply as he muttered assorted equations under his breath as his hands worked rapidly over the tablet before him. "Yeah, he's lost in his own world ever since he was handed the keys to making working laser weapons," Kira explained with a bead of sweat dripping down the back of his skull.

Hanami sniffed as tears began welling up in her eyes.

"Hanami, it's not an insult," Mir hurriedly assured. "He was loving it until he got distracted!"

"Ryu-kun…" Hanami gently tugged at the engineer's sleeve to get his attention.

Ryu blinked as he looked up. "Oh, when did you wake up, Hanami?" Ryu asked in confusion.

Hanami sniffed again as she stared at the unfinished food on the table.

"Huh?" Ryu responded in confusion as he looked down at it. "What's going on?"

"Y-You don't like my food…?" Hanami stared at Ryu with large, watery eyes.

"Huh? Oh, yeah it's great food Hanami," Ryu informed cluelessly. "I'm actually quite bad for not finishing my meals."

"At least finish it before you w-work on your stuff…" Hanami gently pressed down against Ryu's tablet, forcing him to lower it as she nudged his plate closer to him.

"Just give me a minute, I'm close to having these algorithms optimized for both the laser energy draw and the modified Armor Lumiere system," Ryu protested, trying to bring the tablet back up.

Hanami sniffed.

Ryu tried to keep up a valiant front. "I don't want to lose my progress in this…" he attempted.

Hanami's eyes started to water as her lips began quivering.

"It will revolutionize everything we thought we knew about lasers and their usage!" Ryu attempted once more, pulling away slightly.

Tears began leaking down her cheeks. She sniffed again, much louder this time.

"Erk…" Ryu choked out in defeat. "Fine…"

Hanami's expression did a complete 180 as her lips curved upwards in a genuinely innocent smile.

"Did Hanami just do what I think she did?" Kagami blinked.

"Yes… yes she did," Kira confirmed with a nod. "It actually scares me that she is capable of such manipulation… do you think… she's done it on us without us realizing it?"

"Hanami-nee…" Fubuki muttered, impressed at her sister's magnificent guilt tripping technique. Sometimes she wondered if the shy silverette was actually as innocent as most people believed her to be…

"I can't believe it… that girl managed to shake the Chief Engineer out of his trance…" one of the techs whispered.

"I've never seen it happen before…" another muttered. "Not even when the workshop next to him exploded with enough force to knock down one of his walls…"

"She's either a heavenly angel or a devilish succubus," another thought out loud. "I can't decide which one."

"I feel sorry for the Chief now…" a tech said, shaking his head in remorse. "He's going to be _so_ whipped before we even get back to the mainland."

"Someone's making progress on her crush…" Kagami muttered, watching as Hanami took the seat beside Ryu with a blush and began studying his tablet instead.

"What do you plan on doing then?" Mir asked perceptively. "After all, you have one on him too, right?"

"Well, my usual way of doing it isn't working for him," Kagami folded her hands behind her while glancing over at Ryu. "So I'll change strategies and get to know him the long way. I don't mind sharing with Hanami, we're twins after all."

"Wow… that's… interesting to hear you say," Kira commented. "You're willing to actually take the long road."

"S-Shut up! I'm at least willing to change gears if my strategy won't work, though I'm not too sure if this'll work either considering I already confessed and kindasorta failed…" Kagami blushed as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from Kira. Her last few words were mumbled so low the others barely heard her.

"Failed how?" Mir asked, tilting her head. "Failed as in he wasn't attracted? Or your 'womanly charms' didn't work?"

"Ugh," Kagami groaned. "Both. I think I've gotten so used to acting this way that when I end up actually liking someone, I just don't know how to act any other way…"

"Why don't you just befriend him first?" Kira asked speculatively. "I mean - sorry Mir - look at Mir and Tolle, they were friends since they were kids before they started dating."

"That's easier said than done!" Kagami's blush darkened. "I'm not used to all this!"

"Why don't you follow Hanami's lead then?" Mir suggested helpfully. "Look out for him, since he doesn't seem to do that very well himself."

"I guess I can try…" Kagami nodded slowly. "But I'm nowhere near as good at cooking as Hanami is."

"Who said it had to be cooking, _no one_ is as good as Hanami with that," Kira said, a nearly scandalous expression on his face. "Why not just help him out when he's shoulder's deep in his work, be like his assistant or something."

"We're already his interns," Kagami pointed out. "But I guess it's a start…"

"I'm sure you can do it, Kagami," Mir said reassuringly, patting her friend on the shoulder. "After all, there is more to you than you flaunting your body, right?"

"I'm smart too, I'll have you know," Kagami shot a friendly glare at Mir. "IQ of over 200."

"That's because Coordinators generally don't have anything lower than 200," Fubuki rolled her eyes.

"Hey, at least she'd be able to help him somehow," Kira pointed out. "There's gotta be _something_ you can do to help him."

"Ah, I think I know," Kagami snapped her fingers. "I'll drag him off to have some fun whenever I think he needs to chill… but then there isn't anything fun to do on this ship is there?" She deflated visibly.

"Well, even just hanging out with friends can be relaxing," Tolle commented, joining the conversation. "I'm sure you can think of something."

"Well…" Kagami paused before whipping out a portable gaming console. "I'm glad we thought to get these on our supply run in Heliopolis," she giggled.

"Man… nerds everywhere would fall over themselves to get to you if they learned a girl like you was a gamer girl," Sai sighed, shaking his head.

"Wait, Kagami-nee, where did you pull that out from?" Fubuki blinked - her older sister was still wearing that bikini of hers, which had no pockets anywhere…

Tolle, Sai and Kuzzey all suddenly collapsed, blood spilling from their noses.

"Where else?" Kagami winked.

"Kagami-nee…" Fubuki let out an exasperated groan.

Kira barely managed to keep his consciousness as he clutched his nose. "Do you _have_ to do that, Kagami?" he asked pleadingly.

"Yeah, you're making Tolle pay more attention to you than me with actions like that!" Mir pitched in with faux-anger.

"Well, I wouldn't be _me_ otherwise, right?" Kagami giggled as she bounced over to Mir and patted her shoulder. "There there, you know Tolle only looks at you in _that_ way."

The amorous silverette ducked out of the way of an attempted swat by Mir and ran off laughing to hide behind Fubuki.

"Do you really think Fubuki will let you hide?" Mir questioned dryly.

Fubuki took a step to the side. Kagami followed the motion.

"Yep," Kagami said with a perfectly straight face.

"Sounds like someone wants plate cleaning duty," Ryu called out, looking up from his meal. "Provoking violent actions in others."

"Geh!" Kagami gasped. "C-Come on…"

Ryu pinned her with a look.

"Fine," Kagami slumped. "It was just a bit of teasing though…"

Ryu had a brief smug look on his face as his eyes glinted in amusement before both vanished. "Can I have my tablet back, Hanami?" he questioned, pushing away his empty plate.

"Just a m-moment…" Hanami appeared to be making some notes on the tablet.

"Hey, what are you doing with it!" Ryu shouted in a panic. "My work!"

"Here, I made some c-corrections to some of the formulae you were using…" she returned the tablet with a smile.

Ryu looked at her speculatively. "What corrections?" he asked. "What are you talking about?"

Hanami indicated some of the corrections she had made - in notations beside the originals so she hadn't disturbed them. "W-Wrong variables, algorithms used, a few m-m-mistakes that would slip past the eye at first sight. S-Some of the ones I corrected are more efficient."

"Well I'll be damned," Ryu muttered as he looked over the corrections. "Yes… this will work, yeah… now… the power output… need to figure out the proper distribution."

"She's stealing my future schtick!" Kagami pointed accusingly at Hanami, before groaning and settling in beside Ryu. "You'll need more power here than here, you're underestimating the cooling capabilities of the system slightly. And this part here… is it really needed? It's just eating up extra power for barely any benefit at all."

Ryu frowned as he looked over the data. "Hm that may just work," he murmured as he made the changes.

"K-Kagami has a better eye for efficiency than me…" Hanami confessed.

"Well, she's making progress at least…" Tolle muttered, looking on at the scene.

"Does… does he really not realize why they're getting so close to him?" Kira questioned skeptically as he watched the trio, completely unaware of Fubuki trying to mimic them with Kira.

"W-Well… Kagami-nee outed them earlier, right?" Fubuki took another tiiiiny step closer to Kira.

"But… he doesn't seem to even realize what they're doing," Mir commented in surprise.

"Kagami-nee will club him over the head with it at some point," Fubuki sighed. "Blatantly."

"Or he's just that absorbed by his work," Tolle commented speculatively. "I mean, it took Hanami's manipulation to break him out of it before."

"I think Kagami-nee will figure out another way to do it…" Fubuki muttered, taking yet another step so she was almost shoulder-to-shoulder with Kira. "She's just stubborn that way."

"Now I'm curious about how she'll manage it," Kira admitted, still not quite realizing Fubuki's own attempts. "I mean, it took Hanami fake crying to get him out of it."

Fubuki actually had a nagging feeling to do just that smack in front of Kira, but she clamped down on it, thinking about his crush on Flay. "Say, Kira-kun… you're still i-interested in Flay-san?" she asked, trying to ignore the clammy feeling in her throat as she got the words out.

"I… don't really know, to be honest," Kira admitted with a blush, looking away from Fubuki shyly.

"Haven't you ever thought of asking anyone among us out?" Kagami smirked, seeing a chance to out her younger sister. "Fubuki is still single after all!"

Fubuki opened her mouth and closed it, completely caught off guard. Her cheeks turned bright red and quickly spread to her entire face.

Kira also flushed in unison with Fubuki. "W-what?" he stuttered out.

"And I'll have you know she's got plenty of good qualities too!" Kagami's smirk widened. "Like for instance, her giant, soft, squishy F-cup boobs!"

"KAGAMI-NEE!?" Fubuki squawked, rushing over to her older sister and covering her mouth to stop her blabbering… far too late.

"I… I… uhhh," Kira responded dumbly, unable to formulate a proper response.

Tolle, Sai and Kuzzey, who had only just gotten back up, collapsed again with more intense nosebleeds.

"Forget what Kagami-nee just said, forget what she just said!" a panicked Fubuki rushed over to Kira and began shaking him violently.

"Wanna know her three sizes, Kira-kun…?" Kagami couldn't resist taking another shot.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Fubuki rushed back to Kagami.

A thumping sound informed them of Kira dropping unconscious.

"Wow… Kira fainted, that's new," Mir commented plainly.

"Kagami-nee, how could you!?" Fubuki sniffed as she began tearing up.

"You looked like you needed help with that…" Kagami grinned.

"NOT THAT KIND OF HELP!" the younger Yukikaze sank to her knees, hands covering her face.

"I think he liked it though, look at that silly grin on his face now," Kagami pointed out, glancing over at the unconscious Kira's face.

"You… ugh…" Fubuki groaned, not quite having a reply for that in her panicked state.

"C'mon, Fubuki, let's get him and Tolle out of here," Mir suggested, patting the youngest silverette on the shoulder.

"What about Sai and Kuzzey?" Fubuki blushed as she got up and headed for her crush's unconscious form.

"They're on their own," Mir affirmed with a prim nod.

"Right…" Fubuki nodded distractedly as she pulled Kira to his feet.

In the meantime, Hanami turned to Kagami with a smile. The ultra sweet kind that would probably give anyone looking at it tooth cavities. However, those who actually knew the shy girl knew that it meant another thing entirely. Kagami began shaking as a cold aura began emanating from her twin sister, made all the more terrifying by the fact that the normally shy girl had such a wide smile on her face.

"Oh shit." Kagami muttered, hiding behind Ryu.

"Hm?" Ryu looked up as he felt something cold run down his spine. "What the…?"

"Ryu-kun, would you be so kind as to step aside?" Hanami said evenly without her usual stutter, her saccharine tone of voice concealing her fury incredibly well. "I need to talk to Kagami about making our family members cry…"

"Ri-ight," Ryu said slowly. "Just… make sure she's capable of duty in the morning…"

"A little mental trauma won't hurt her…" Hanami dismissed his concerns as the cold mist coalesced into a _smiling_ Noh mask behind her, complete with glowing blue eyes and wrapped in mist.

"Well, I'll be in the hangar when you're finished then," Ryu informed before stepping away and heading out the door.

"Have mercy on me, Hanami!" Kagami backed up into a corner as the techs in the room hurriedly and wisely cleared out after their boss.

"Now, now, Kagami… We're twin sisters, would I ever do anything extreme to you…?" Hanami kept on smiling as she tilted her head in such a way that the shadows cast by her fringes fell over her eyes.

"YOU WOULD! YOU WOULD!"

"Nonsense… I'm just going to make sure you repent for what you did to Fubuki…" Hanami continued, ignoring her twin's pleas.

"COME ON! IT WAS JUST A LITTLE TEASING!"

"All done in good jest, I'm sure… but considering the timing and the fact that Kira-kun was present…" another mask formed in response to Kagami's defense. Hanami now seemed to have two different voices overlaid on her own, as the Noh masks' mouths moved according to her words.

"SHE NEEDED HELP HOOKING UP WITH HIM!"

"As our _precious_ younger sister said, not that kind of help…" Hanami spoke _excruciatingly_ slowly, dragging out her syllables and opening her eyes just slightly - her irises seemed to glow in the shadows cast by her hair, creating a downright terrifying image.

She took another step closer to Kagami.

The scream could be heard throughout the whole ship.

* * *

 **The next day,** _ **Archangel,**_ **Hangar**

* * *

"Morning, Kag- WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO YOU!?" Mir shrieked as she encountered the bikini-clad silverette in the hangar.

She had a gaunt look on her face, complete with dark spots under her eyes. Kagami was also trembling all over and flinching every time she turned and caught sight of her twin, who was hanging around Ryu while he worked. Hanami on the other hand was smiling as her crush explained something to her.

"Do _not_ piss off Hanami-sama. Ever," Kagami whispered as she collapsed, still twitching all over.

"Er… do you need something?" Mir asked in concern as Kagami violently twitched on the floor. "Like horse tranqs?"

"I need a shrink. To get this i-i-i-i-image out of my head…" Kagami moaned.

"You deserved it," Fubuki muttered as she walked past on her way to the Ariete. "Morning, Hanami-nee!"

"M-Morning…" Hanami returned the greeting cheerfully.

"Mm?" Ryu looked up, a smear of grease staining his cheek and hands as he spotted Fubuki. "Oh, morning."

"Morning. Hanami-nee, what did you do to Kagami-nee?" Fubuki asked.

Hanami just smiled mysteriously as she cocked her head to one side. "What could you possibly be talking about?" she asked, minus her usual stutter.

"I heard her screaming something about a mask," Ryu commented sending a look to Kagami, before turning a stern look back onto Hanami. "You're covering for her until she's able to work properly again."

"Alright," a completely unrepentant Hanami replied, still maintaining her smile.

"Scary," one of the techs that had been at the scene the previous day in the mess hall whispered.

Ryu hummed but let it go as he turned back to the rifle like object he was working on. "For its strength, the emitters of Lightwave Barriers are easy to produce," Ryu mumbled to himself. "I wonder, could I make some sort of reactive barrier with them?

"Of course you can, it was designed as a barrier in the first place," Kira joined in, walking out from behind a container. When he caught sight of Fubuki, his eyes inadvertently strayed to her chest before he caught himself with a blush and hurriedly looked away. The previous day's revelation was still fresh in his mind… "M-M-Morning, Fubuki…"

Fubuki blushed and looked away as well. "M-M-M-M-Morning… Did you s-sleep well?" she stammered out awkwardly, while berating herself mentally for asking a dumb question. Of course he did, after finding out her bust size…

"Y-yeah," he confirmed nervously, doing his best not to let his eyes stray. "H-hey… uhh, can… I… talk to you about something?"

"Ummm… O-O-Okay…" Fubuki nodded slowly, noticing that her insufferable bimbo of an older sister had pulled a miraculous recovery and was staring at the two of them with stars in her freshly-rejuvenated eyes. She rolled her eyes.

"How about we go somewhere with less eyes watching us," Kira suggested, noticing Kagami watching them as well.

"S-Sure," a still-nervous Fubuki responded as she walked over to Kira's side.

In the meantime, Hanami shot a smile in Kagami's direction to dissuade her. It worked perfectly, causing Kagami to squeak and disappear behind a crate.

Kira shot the 'shyer' silverette a thankful smile before he and Fubuki went to a more secluded corner. "Uh, listen, about yesterday…" he began, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "W-well, what Kagami said actually got me thinking… um… w-would you l-like to go on a… uh… date?"

Fubuki froze for several moments as her heartbeat got so loud she thought her crush might be able to hear it. "U-Umm… you shouldn't ask me out j-j-just because Kagami-nee's p-pressuring you…" she whispered, folding her arms behind her and fidgeting.

Kira shook his head. "It isn't because of that," he assured her quickly. "Well… I've always liked you, I… I wanna see if something will happen between us."

"W-Wait, you've always liked me?" Fubuki snapped up to stare at Kira.

Kira blushed as he scratched his cheek. "Well, at first I kinda admired you," he admitted. "But, as we became friends, I enjoyed being around you more… and well… yeah."

"B-But… I thought you liked Flay-san?" Fubuki asked, taking a step closer to Kira.

"Well... I admit she's pretty and nice, but… I don't know her as well as I do you," Kira admitted. "Plus, isn't she engaged to Sai?"

"W-Well, I guess so…" Fubuki paused, still looking everywhere else except at Kira.

There was a long silence for a moment as both the teens shifted nervously on the spot.

"I-I guess we can do that…" Fubuki whispered.

"R-really?" Kira asked, looking at Fubuki hopefully.

"Y-Yeah…" Fubuki nodded, looking up at Kira as she walked forward and hesitated for a moment before taking his hand. "I-I'd be glad to be your girlfriend…" she smiled softly.

Kira blush a bit, but smiled happily in response. "Heheh… I'm almost afraid to pinch myself to see if I'm dreaming," he admitted.

Fubuki giggled. "But… you really did get hit hard by Kagami-nee yesterday, didn't you…?" she looked down at her ample bosom. "I mean… you f-fainted and all…"

Kira chuckled sheepishly in response. "Yeah… sorry about that," he apologised. "It was rather… unexpected."

"Ummm… i-if you don't believe her, you can c-c-check for yourself…" Fubuki whispered shyly. "I-I-I mean, I should probably apologize for my sister putting you on the spot like that anyway…"

Kira flushed a cherry red in response to her first statement. "Wh-wh-wha?" he stammered out in shock.

"A-And it's going to be pretty awkward between us until we fix the problem…" Fubuki rambled on, her cheeks growing redder and redder by the second.

Kira's eyes widened as his jaw dropped, unable to say anything that didn't make him sound like a caveman.

"W-W-W-What I'm saying i-i-is…" Fubuki sucked in a deep breath, trying to gather her resolve. "W-W-Would you like to t-t-touch them?"

 ***THUD***

Fubuki blinked as Kira tipped over backwards and impacted against the ground in a dead faint.

"K-Kira-kun!?" the distraught silverette ran over to Kira and began shaking him, trying to wake him up.

"Awa… boobs," Kira mumbled in his unconscious state.

"I'm sorry… I t-thought it might be a good idea to break the ice…" Fubuki whispered, sitting down beside Kira and laying his head down on her lap.

Kira groaned slightly as he shifted slightly in his comatose state. "Fubuki…" he whispered quietly.

Fubuki shivered slightly as he brushed across her bust - being as big as she was meant that _they_ were almost resting on Kira's face while he was using her lap as a pillow. It also meant she could barely see his face like this since _they_ were in the way. Nonetheless, she brought her hand up and began gently rubbing the top of his head.

"Ngh…" Kira grunted, his eyes fluttering open to reveal a pair of clothed mounds before his eyes. "Wha…?"

"Awake already?" Fubuki blinked. "S-Sorry for scaring you like that, Kira-kun…"

"Oh… Fubuki," Kira mumbled in realization as he began to blush in response to their position, although he didn't make any move to sit up. "Your lap is soft…"

Fubuki was glad he likely couldn't see her blush. "T-Thanks…" she murmured.

"U-uh, listen about… _touching_ you…" Kira began slowly. "H-how about we just take it one step at a time?"

"A-Ah…" Fubuki paused. "R-Right… I'm sorry, I was so nervous I wasn't thinking straight…"

Kira smiled, even though Fubuki couldn't quite see it. "It's alright," he assured. "But… if you don't mind, I'd like to use your lap as a pillow more often…"

"A-Anytime," came the reply.

"Thanks… for agreeing to be my girlfriend, Fubuki," Kira mumbled appreciatively.

"I-I'm the one who should be thanking you for agreeing to be my boyfriend…" Fubuki whispered. "B-But… you asked me out on a date, but there isn't really anywhere to go on the ship…"

Kira chuckled weakly, scratching his cheek. "I'll think of something," he assured. "May not be romantic, but it'll be something."

"I'll hold you to that," Fubuki giggled.

"I'll do my best to live up to it then," Kira agreed, chuckling. "Mm, this is nice."

"I'm glad you like my lap," Fubuki smiled. "But… they're actually a little too fat for me to squeeze into some tighter pants and jeans."

"You're not fat," Kira stated automatically. "You're just cushy."

"Alright, I'm cushy," Fubuki giggled. "Just make sure to return the favour sometime."

Kira grinned. "Sure, anytime," he agreed. "Although mine might be a bit more… bony."

"Don't tell me you'll still be bony after several more weeks of Hanami-nee's cooking," Fubuki pointed out.

Kira chuckled. "It _is_ good food," he agreed, "But I'm naturally bony apparently."

"I won't mind it… so long as that isn't poking my cheek," Fubuki blushed as she pointed at the tent in Kira's pants. "I guess you guys really do like big boobs…"

Kira blushed, but gave her a small grin. "So I _shouldn't_ find you attractive then?" he asked teasingly.

"Tease," Fubuki swatted Kira's head. "I-I think we should get back to work…"

"Sure," Kira agreed with a reluctant nod, not wanting to remove his head from her lap. "I suppose we should brace ourselves for some teasing."

"I… don't think that'll be a problem," Fubuki muttered, recalling Hanami somehow terrifying her twin into submission.

"True," Kira agreed, remembering the _Incident_. "Still going to have to face the music some time."

"So… umm… can you move?" Fubuki patted her lap. "I can't get up with you like this."

Kira pouted. "I don' wanna though," he complained. "It's comfy."

"I… umm… can't kiss you like this…" Fubuki blushed.

Kira blushed a bit too before pulling himself into a sitting position to look at Fubuki. "Umm… never done this before," he admitted, before smiling. "But I'm looking forward to learning."

Fubuki giggled as she pressed her lips against Kira's in a chaste kiss. "No Frenching for now," she pressed a finger against his lips.

Kira flushed. "T-t-tha-that's not what I meant!" he cried out in embarrassment.

"Come on, let's head back!" a much more chipper Fubuki linked hands with Kira and began all but dragging him back towards where the others were.

* * *

 _ **Archangel**_ **, Gym**

* * *

He'd be a fool not to take advantage of the ship's facilities, but quite honestly there were some things in space that just didn't work without proper gravity. Sure, there were other variations on the equipment that made it work to some extent, but it just wasn't the same. Like the 'weight' machines, or rather in this case, spring machines. With the weights replaced with springs to provide resistance.

"Hrk!" Snake pulled back on the bars. He got it back all the way easily, and he was already on the strongest spring available.

Diamond Dogs had pretty much commandeered the gym, considering they were the ones who needed to keep in shape more as they settled into their role as the ship's security crew temporarily. Babysitting, some of the men called it. It was accurate in a way - the kids they had taken on were young enough to be their kids in most cases.

Quiet was looking decidedly disgruntled as she tested out the weight machine, which had a similar spring modification.

Times like these, he knew both of them missed Earth and its gravity. Hell, most of the men had been complaining, but with no other choice they stuck with what they were given and improvised in several cases. He'd already seen a few customized exercise machines, and some of the men were trying to figure out proper space workouts with some… amusing results.

"I miss gravity," one of the men moaned.

"Hey, out here you can lift 1000 kg weights like a pro, ya know?" one of the men grinned as he lifted up a barbell with 1000 kg worth of weights on it… with one hand. "Spinning gravity or whatever they call it or not, this stuff still feels a little heavy."

"It's called centrifugal force, and you're in space, duh. No gravity," another merc deadpanned. "I guess it does make for nice photo opportunities though. Make you seem more manly compared to those of us back on Earth, lifting those weights."

"Then you'll get asked to prove it on Mother Base and fail."

"Heh, that'd be something to see."

"Damn you two."

"Should probably get Miller to design some exercise machines for space use," Snake muttered to himself.

"With proper consultation from experts," Quiet added.

"Speaking of experts," Snake paused as a certain old man crossed his mind. "Code Talker settling in alright?"

"I saw him in the infirmary marvelling over all the latest gear," one of the mercs offered. "I'd guess he's quite happy."

"He won't be able to play around with it after we get back," Snake grunted. "Makes sense."

"Why not just get him some of that stuff? I mean, we've been earning more money since coming to this world," another merc suggested. "And it can't be that bad to invest in the stuff when Code Talker's so good at what he does. He'll definitely come up with something new."

"I asked, a full suite of all that newfangled scientific gear would put us in the red for a year," Snake sighed. "It's just too expensive, and I haven't even factored in the maintenance costs."

"Dang."

"I left the accounting work to Leaping Dolphin, she's better with the numbers than I am," Snake added. "She took one look at it and immediately said no to Code Talker."

"Double dang."

"Would've been cool to see what he can come up with using them. We already have those _sweet_ Parasite Suits…" one of the mercs, a newer Natural recruit from the Cosmic Era groaned out loud.

"They make me feel gross just putting them on, they're not cool at all," another snapped.

"Fuck you, they're cool."

"Gross."

"Cool."

"Gross."

"What are you two, 12 years old? Those suits keep us alive and get shit done, they're neither cool or gross, they're functional!" a different merc interrupted the conversation.

"Fine," the merc who liked the suits sighed as he returned to doing his crunches.

"Still gross."

"Functional."

Snake sighed. Some of the recruits from the Cosmic Era had no idea how much trouble they had gone through to develop the things. There was a reason why he had never put on a Parasite Suit himself - all too often he had faced the Skulls and he was reminded of their visages each time he saw a soldier using one of the suits. With their humanity stripped away from them, leaving behind just an empty shell, he'd never be able to come to terms with them.

He only tolerated the Parasite Suits because they kept his men alive without the side effects that had befallen the Skulls. The same metallic archaea armour that covered the Armour Skulls still prevented the weapons of this world from harming them, and the camouflage abilities of the Camo Skulls gave Diamond Dogs personnel ridiculous stealth capabilities. Even with the milder versions of the parasites created by Code Talker based off of the original ones on the captured Skulls, there was still no denying their combat capabilities.

Oh, none of their snipers would still ever be able to take Quiet on in a one-on-one duel and win using the suit, unless she died of old age or something, but that was impossible for her now. She was the prime example of the utility of the suit's camouflage capabilities should it ever be perfected.

"Pipe down, some of us need to keep in shape here," Snake grunted.

"Yes, Boss!" the rest of the men immediately saluted before returning to their own workouts with more enthusiasm.

Snake easily lifted up a bar with its springs set to provide… how much force? He checked the readout and grunted. 981N, divided by 9.81 to give a simulated 100kg weight. Too soft. Maybe the zero-G exercise machines would have to come first. And he had thought that the Cosmic Era was sci-fi enough to have stuff like artificial gravity generators. Dang.

* * *

 _ **Archangel**_ **, Hangar**

* * *

"Awww… I wanted to go spy on them…" Kagami groaned, kicking back against one of the mobile suit holding brackets with a spanner in hand once she was sure her evil twin wasn't in hearing range. "They looked like they were up to something juicy…"

"You are just a gossip queen aren't you?" Tolle asked with a skeptical look. "Or is it a blackmail queen?"

"I prefer the term 'making-absolutely-sure-Kira-is-treating-my-little-sister-right' queen," Kagami pretended to buff her fingernails primly. "Blackmail's just a side dish!"

"Uh-huh, Kira is just so well known of a heart-breaker," Mir replied dryly, sending the silverette a deadpan look. "He's nothing but cruelty given form."

"Come on, at least let me have my fun…" Kagami moaned, walking over to Mir and elbowing her gently. "Hanami-sama already interrupted me once… What's a sister to do if not collect blackmail on her younger sister and her boyfriend?"

"How about being supportive of her in her new relationship?" Sai suggested blandly as he typed away at his computer. "That's what a _normal_ family would do."

Kagami sat down on a crate beside Sai with a sigh. "I suppose my social skills suck, huh?" she began idly swinging her legs. "Maybe… I really am too used to having people react the way most do when I flash a little boob."

"Well, maybe this is a good time to learn some new social skills," Mir suggested cheerfully, trying to up the silverette's mood. "Maybe I can help you figure out a way to get a certain boss' attention?"

"I already messed up there though… I really screwed up declaring my crush on him like that…" an apparition of a stormy cloud formed over Kagami as she buried her face in her hands. "It did more for Hanami than for myself…"

"Well, don't take this the wrong way, or that I'm trying to push you into competition, but… maybe you should be selfish a little," Kuzzey pitched in from where he was fiddling with a coupling on the ankle joint. "I mean, why can't you _both_ be happy?"

"I really don't mind sharing with Hanami, actually," Kagami looked up at Kuzzey. "We… actually did talk things over before - we realized we'd likely end up falling for the same guy. The two of us are practically identical in our tastes in men…"

"Well, why don't you two… and I can't believe I'm saying this, tag team him then," Mir suggested in resignation as the males in the vicinity began to lose themselves in a fantasy. "Should I tell the boss what you're all doing instead of working!?"

The shouted question snapped the males back into reality as the leapt back into action.

"I suppose… I really need to make up with Hanami and Fubuki first before I try that," Kagami mused thoughtfully. "At this rate both of them have more experience bagging their men than I do."

"You'll be just fine, Kagami," Tolle told her. "After all, there is more to you than just your body, right?"

"Of course there is! I've got a brain to match these jugs!" Kagami swelled in pride as she crossed her arms underneath her chest… and froze. "Ah, I'm doing it again," she groaned.

"Don't worry, Kagami," Mir assured her, patting her back gently. "Worse comes to worse, we'll train you with a shock collar."

"That's not reassuring at all, Mir-chan!" Kagami sprang off, shaking at the thought of having such a device around her neck.

Mir giggled in response. "Then do your best!" She advised with a cheshire grin before her face became more solemn. "So… from what I heard… you might have to pilot again…"

"Yeah," Kagami looked up at the Highwind sitting in its cradle being looked over by the engineering team. "I'm not just going to pilot for the sake of flying around in a cool transforming giant robot - hey, no eye rolling!"

The others laughed as they rolled their eyes anyways. "Are… will you be alright?" Sai asked in concern, sending a worried look to the silverette. "With… you know… fighting."

"I'll be fine, I'm doing it to protect you guys," Kagami smiled although it seemed slightly forced. "With Tolle so lousy at piloting-"

"Oi!"

"-we need all the other pilots we can get," the silverette continued after sticking her tongue out at Tolle teasingly. "Otherwise I'm not so sure we can all make it out of this alive."

Sai, Kuzzey and Mir all swallowed tightly in response as they nodded. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that then," Kuzzey said nervously. "I'd rather not see anything happen to any one of us."

"Remind me again why we're not waiting for the ORB reinforcement fleet?" Mir sighed as she leaned back and stared up at the hangar around them. "It would've been safer with them…"

"Maybe, maybe not," Kagami conceded. "ZAFT had the balls to attack the colony just to target the prototypes. If we had stayed… they might have come again. We were putting the colonists at risk just being there with the machines…"

"Damned if we do, damned if we don't," Sai sighed in agreement. "And of course, this had to happen when we get offered our dream job."

"Yeah, it's like the worst scenario ever," Kuzzey shuddered. "What did we ever do to piss the powers-that-be off?"

"Maybe they're just jealous," Mir questioned, sending a subtle point at Kagami's bust line.

"Yeah, those are practically illegal," Kuzzey agreed, following Mir's finger with his eyes.

"What are practically illegal?" Kagami blinked, having missed Mir's gesture.

"Nothing, don't worry about it dear," Mir replied with an expression that could melt butter.

"I'd probe into it but that look tells me you're close to putting the shock collar on me, training or not," Kagami hurriedly backed off.

" _Maybe~_ " Mir sang out cheerfully. "But you'd have to admit, you'd change your ways quickly."

"Which isn't worth having several hundred volts of electricity coursing through me on a daily basis," Kagami took another step back. "Tolle, your girlfriend's scary."

Tolle sent her a dry look in response. "I _know_ ," he told her. "I know in ways you could only _dream_ of."

"Not as scary as Hanami," Kagami added with a shudder.

"Looks like they managed to work things out," Mir called out to the others as she spotted Kira and Fubuki approaching, holding each other's hands. " _Definitely_ worked things out."

Fubuki still ducked behind Kira with a cute yelp and a blush when she realized the others had seen them coming, although she didn't let go of Kira's hand.

"Uhh… hey guys," Kira called out nervously as everyone's eyes landed on them.

"So… when should I prepare the _sekihan_?" Hanami clapped her hands together merrily as she approached the group together with Ryu.

 _(A/N:_ Sekihan _, red rice, is synonymous with celebrations in Japan.)_

"Hanami-nee!" Fubuki let out an indignant yelp.

Kira flushed along with Fubuki. "Uhh… I don't think that'll be necessary at the moment," he managed to get out nervously. "We… we're just going to… date for now."

"I wonder when the passionate ni-" Kagami was cut off by a look from both Mir and Hanami. "Um, finally you two really got together!" she hurriedly amended.

"You alright, Kagami?" Ryu asked, sending her a look when her face paled slightly. "Lookin' a bit pale there."

"Um, I'm fine," Kagami blushed, then realized it was her chance to apologize for making fun of her little sister. "Look… Fubuki… I-I know I really messed up earlier… I really went overboard with my teasing. I-I'm sorry!" she quickly bowed in apology, but ended up overdoing it, unbalancing herself and tipping over to land face-first on the hangar floor.

 ***Crash***

"Ow…"

Ryu winced as he moved over to help her stand back up. "You alright?" He asked holding up three fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three, not like a fall like that could give… me… a c-concussion or… anything," Kagami looked up, her voice going softer and softer as she realized exactly who it was worrying over her.

"Well, it's my job to make sure you all are safe, so, forgive the worry," Ryu requested as he held out his hand for her to take.

Kagami blushed as she took his hand, wondering why she had suddenly become so meek. She said nothing as he pulled her to her feet, and she began fidgeting awkwardly.

"Kagami is acting like Hanami…" Sai murmured to his friends in a quiet tone. "Is this… the sign of the apocalypse?"

"Hey!" Kagami spun to glare at Sai. "I-Isn't this the normal anime-like r-r-r-reaction to when your crush is in super _super_ close proximity to you?" she blustered.

Fubuki was staring at Kagami as if she had grown a second head.

"That's anime, not reality," Mir pointed out. "But it _is_ cute to see you act so shyly, _especially_ when you blurt out your crush."

"I already blurted it out yesterday!" Kagami's blush darkened.

"Still is cute~!" Mir sang.

A chuckle drew their attention to Ryu who was watching the scene with an amused look on his face. "It is pretty cute seeing you act all flustered like that," he pitched in.

A puff of steam exited Kagami's ears. "H-H-H-Hmph, j-j-just as i-i-i-it should be…" she stammered out, her usually proud tone completely ruined.

"I was almost expecting her to pull a Hanami and faint," Kuzzey remarked.

"But her pride is destroyed," Tolle added smugly.

"Y-Y-You guys are evil…" Kagami whined as she ducked behind Ryu.

"Isn't that what friends are _supposed_ to do?" Ryu asked with a small grin. "And what you were planning on doing?"

"Um, I-I-I-I didn't plan anything?" Kagami looked up at Ryu, slightly confused.

"Fubuki and Kira?" he prompted.

"O-Oh," Kagami realized. "Umm… I wanted to get them hitched up m-m-my way… b-b-but I realized it kind of messed t-things up… so yeah… I'm sorry, Fubuki… Kira…"

"I accept your apology," Kira replied with a smile as he squeezed Fubuki's hand.

"Took long enough for you to realize, Kagami-nee…" Fubuki sighed, relaxing her hand. "Apology accepted, I'd ask you to reveal your three sizes in return but you'd actually be happy to do it yourself anyway."

Kagami was about to rise up to the challenge, but Hanami _look_ ed at her again. "Umm… yeah…" she felt a bead of cold sweat roll down her forehead - she could tell what her twin was thinking, revealing her own three sizes would be the same as revealing her twin's.

Ryu gave her an encouraging smile as he patted her shoulder. "It was very mature of you to apologise, Kagami," he told her warmly.

Another puff of steam escaped Kagami's ears as she turned to look robotically at Ryu, before abruptly her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she fell backwards into his arms.

"Oh, she actually did pass out…" Kuzzey blinked.

Ryu chuckled as he repositioned her to carry her bridal style in his arms. "Shall we put her to bed?" He asked her twin.

"She'll w-wake up in a few minutes… n-no need," Hanami smiled softly.

Ryu shrugged in response. "Alright then, so, what are you guys working on at the moment?" He asked, turning to the others.

The students looked at each other for several moments before scrambling back to their terminals. "Umm, I'm trying to see if I can calibrate the Aegis' OS to agree with me more… but there's still a lot of stuff I can't make head or tail of," Tolle scratched his forehead.

"Like what?" Ryu asked, looking over Tolle's shoulder.

"Everything," Tolle slumped.

"Alright, we'll start with the basics then," Ryu offered as he gently set Kagami down on one of the chairs and leaned next to Tolle. "So, how are your linkage sets?"

"I think I have them down right… I double, triple, quadruple, quintuple checked everything, it looks right… I scanned power loader OSes and it seems to follow them alright… but the thing is that a mobile suit simply has so many more parts and requires a higher level of precision that I have trouble piecing the whole thing together," Tolle sighed.

"Right," Ryu nodded a small frown on his face. "Let's start this off part by part then, since you already have all the major parts set, we'll start with the secondary, now, what do you have the neck joint set at?"

"Umm, Kira-kun," Fubuki tapped Kira's shoulder to get his attention. "C-Could I get some help with the Ariete's thruster calibrations?"

"Of course," Kira agreed with a smile. "What do you need help with?"

"It's burning too much energy in hover mode in gravity, I thought it was just because the Ariete's far too overweight, but I looked over the programming and it made me want to murder the engineers who did it," she sighed, shaking her fist.

"Yeah, I thought the same thing with the Strike," Kira agreed with a weak chuckle. "Alright, let's get started then, might be as simple a thing as their conversion ratios being off."

"M-Mind if I help out?" Hanami approached the two of them. "I-I hope you don't mind having a t-t-third wheel around…"

"Sure," Kira agreed with a nod, looking over to Fubuki. "Not like working on programming is romantic or anything."

"T-Thanks, Ryu-kun will p-probably be tied up teaching Tolle-kun f-for a while after all…" Hanami nodded.

"So, come up with any new plans?" Kira asked with a grin as he started typing away. "For him, I mean."

"I… I'll just get to know Ryu-kun slowly," Hanami poked her fingers together shyly. "I can feel the spark with him… I… I just need to let it grow."

"I suppose that would be the best way to do it," Kira agreed. "Still, there needs to be nudges here and there… right?"

Hanami froze. "U-Umm… y-you d-d-d-don't have to go that far…" she began fading out of view partially.

"Well… I admit I'm about the farthest thing from an expert on this so…" Kira admitted sheepishly. "Just do whatever comes naturally to you, I guess."

"I… I can't wait to get b-back to ORB…" Hanami glanced over at the hangar doors. "Although I-I d-d-don't really like g-gravity…"

Kira gave her a confused look. "Why's that?" He asked curiously.

"Um," Fubuki piqued, slightly embarrassed as she looked down at her chest. "They're… heavy," she whispered quietly.

Kira blinked, running the words through his mind before he caught on and his face flushed cherry red. "Oh," he replied in a small voice. "I guess that's true…"

"A-Anyway," Hanami blustered, trying to divert the discussion away from gravity's effects on the female body, "I-I'd like to at least make myself useful… so is there any programming that needs help with?"

"Well, could you help with the targeting algorithms while I work on the thruster ratio," Kira offered as he looked over the maintenance report.

"R-Right," Hanami nodded as she headed over to a spare terminal and bent down over it, unintentionally giving Kira quite a bit of eye candy in the form of her bikini-clad behind.

"Urk," Kira choked as his face turned tomato red before he forced his wide eyes to his computer screen.

"You just checked out my sister," Fubuki's eyes narrowed as she elbowed him softly, although there was a bit of mirth in her eyes.

"Not on purpose!" Kira protested quietly, his face growing redder by the second.

"Just kidding," the younger Yukikaze giggled as she glanced over at her sister. "I-If you like the sight… I-I-I'm sure I'll grow into it in the future…"

Kira choked a bit in response as he stared at his new girlfriend in shock. "O-oh," he replied, assaulted by mental images of her in a bikini. "That… would be nice?"

"I'm… a Yukikaze after all," Fubuki offered a slightly forced smile. "We all take after our mother's side of the family."

"W-well, you don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with," Kira replied firmly. "I'm happy with whatever you're willing to do."

"I'm sure… you noticed I've never really been comfortable around larger groups of guys," Fubuki forced a chuckle as she returned to her work. "What I'm not comfortable with is my body - I draw too much attention with it for my liking. Every time I pass a big group of guys I can feel their eyes on me, commenting on my three sizes…"

Kira gave her a smiled as he turned to her to give her a hug, "Like I said, whatever you're comfortable with, I'll be happy," he told her assuringly. "I'm still new to all of this, so I don't want to rush."

"Every time, every day, I could hear people whispering about me, you know," Fubuki closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh. "I couldn't take it as well as Kagami-nee, it got so bad I started skipping out completely on PE classes in high school."

"I-I was the same way," Hanami offered sheepishly. "Only K-Kagami really r-r-relished the attention she got…"

"Well, just tell me what I can do to help, and I'll do it," Kira told her with a smile. "Anything and everything."

"It's all in the past, Kira-kun," Fubuki smiled wistfully. "There's nothing you could've done about it, we didn't end up in the same class until recently after all."

Kira nodded his understanding. "Well, I'll be there for the future," he assured her. "Plus, you have access to a ton of experimental weapons and a giant robot if they _really_ get on your nerves."

Fubuki cracked a smile at that. "Doesn't really help when I'm outside of said giant robot though," she shrugged. "I suppose… I could just use you as my shield."

Kira grinned at her. "Are you sure you'll fit?" He asked teasingly,

Fubuki was suddenly pushed by an invisible force as she ended up pressing against his front, her sizable assets squashed against his chest. She blinked for a few moments before she glared over at an innocently whistling Hanami who had just faded back into the visible spectrum.

"I-I-I guess I won't," she whispered softly, still somewhat in shock at her sister's push. "But you still cover most of me…"

Kira meanwhile had somehow surpassed 'tomato' in the color spectrum on his face as a trickle of blood trailed from his nose. "I… guess so," he managed to get out weakly.

"Ara ara, y-your nose is b-b-bleeding, Kira-kun," Hanami said primly, discreetly offering Fubuki a tissue.

With a roll of her eyes, Fubuki dabbed the tissue at the blood trail. While it had been odd for her normally shy and reserved older sister to take initiative with the support, she could say quite surely that she much preferred it to the other older sister's 'support'.

"T-thanks," Kira mumbled as Fubuki wiped the blood away. "S-sorry about that, but… it… felt… good."

This time it was Fubuki's turn to go red. "U-U-U-Umm…" she whispered, her eyes wide in shock. "D-D-Do they really?" she blurted out, trying not to meet his gaze.

Kira nodded quickly. "Yeah, soft and warm," he admitted. "Almost like… marshmallows."

Fubuki's blush spread to her whole body as she attempted to formulate a response. Her brain and mouth both failed her though, as she suddenly found herself seeing nothing but darkness. Behind her, Hanami gave her little sister a discreet push so that she'd fall into Kira's arms.

"Ack!" Kira cried out as Fubuki tipped him over, sending the two of them toppling to the ground, the two of them bouncing off of the ground to begin drifting in space. "Y-you alright?"

The unconscious Fubuki didn't respond.

"Fubuki?" Kira requested, prodding her again. "FUBUKI!"

"Ara ara, she passed out," Hanami sighed dramatically.

Kira blinked several times as he processed Hanami's words. "Huh," he finally replied. "Odd, both of them passed out while _you're_ just fine."

Hanami giggled as she looked over to where Ryu was. "W-Well… s-some things have changed…"

Kira chuckled in response. "I see, good luck with him," he told her before looking down to Fubuki. "I'm gonna take her somewhere more quiet."

"Go ahead…" Hanami nodded. "And… I-I'm glad F-Fubuki got together with y-you…"

Kira flushed a little as he cradled Fubuki in his arms. "So am I," he admitted quietly before moving off to bring Fubuki to a quiet area as the rest of the team kept working.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **AstralXYZ:** It's not that this chapter took this many months to come out with, but both of us have simply been busy in one way or another and haven't had the time to update as often. That and we have plot bunnies jumping all over the place. We're really, really sorry for the delay. As we post this though, the next chapter's already been finished and we'll be going over it for errors while we work on Chapter 7.

 **DKR:** The plot bunny is a fickle goddess to follow… not to mention the need for financial income.

 **AstralXYZ** : Personally I just finished my diploma as well, and will need to start looking for a job very soon lest I go stir-crazy. And I feel the need to take some of the financial burden off my parents too…

 **DKR:** Huzzah for being unemployed in a place where EVERYONE is looking for a job…

 **AstralXYZ** : And over here in Malaysia, the starting wage for your average 3D artist is barely enough to survive on actually… *sigh* I'm gonna have my work cut out for me once I find a job and start settling in. I can't guarantee a steady update schedule then - it might take more than 3 weeks between chapters even. I promise though, I'll try my best to keep up - thankfully it seems my muse and my artist are two entirely separate entities and need to be sated separately… Anyways, thank you guys for your patience in sticking with us so far, and we hope you enjoy the read. Please, do leave reviews if you're happy with our work - it keeps us fired up to keep cranking out the good stuff!


End file.
